Managing Cybersecurity in Vulnerable Times
3 Easy Ways Your Company Can Combat Cybersecurity Threats
Now more than ever before, it’s important for companies to regularly pressure test their cybersecurity operations. With the threat of COVID-19 comes an undercurrent of cybercriminal activity. But just as society has embraced the required changes to combat the threat of COVID-19, so can your IT department.
Here are three simple ways to adapt your company’s online routines and behaviors to combat common cybersecurity threats during vulnerable times:
1. Exercise extreme caution with clicks
In their webinar, “Critical considerations to Improve your Remote Employee Safety During the COVID-19 Pandemic” Data-Driven Defense Evangelist, Roger Grimes and Perry Carpenter, Chief Evangelist and Strategy Officer at KnowB4 Inc, caution against cybercriminals who are leveraging COVID-19 fears to trick users, spreads malware, and pilfer data.
Exercise caution in your email inbox by avoiding suspicious or unfamiliar addresses, links or attachments. As COVID-19 and other viruses spread through interaction, so do digital viruses - with the potential to infect others in your company, and larger digital communities with one wrong click.
2. Increase your cybersecurity hygiene standards
Like the preventative measures shared by CMSto protect public health and safety, it’s important to take time to revisit your online health habits. Ensure that you and your employees are using strong passwordsfor all software and digital tools, along with a complex router password for home wifi. It’s recommended that users do not replicate passwords across tools, and whenever possible, utilize encrypt your online activity using a secure VPN.
3. Stay vigilant
Cybersecurity is not immune to COVID-19. Stay in the know, prepared, and impenetrable by continuing to monitor the health of your corporate IT infrastructure, processes and procedures. There are many free resources available to boost security awareness, but the most important starts within your company itself: your people. Keep your IT resources healthy, both mentally and physically, and well-staffed.
When more employees than normal are working remotely, or distributed work is new to an organization, IT resources may be strained along with inbound IT requests.
Sources:
https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-online-scams-coronavirus-phishing-scams.html
https://www.cms.gov/outreach-education/partner-resources/coronavirus-covid-19-partner-toolkit
https://www.cisecurity.org/newsletter/why-strong-unique-passwords-matter/
https://staysafeonline.org/covid-19-security-resource-library/