SpartanTec, Inc. Columbia: Top Cybersecurity Best Practices For Employees

Every organization’s backbone is its employees. They ensure that the goals and objectives are achieved and that everything runs smoothly. Humans are still the weakest link in an organization’s chain regarding cybersecurity.

An organization’s cybersecurity needs can be negatively affected by employees who don’t take them seriously. Organizations can reduce their vulnerability by informing employees about information security best practices. Below are the top cybersecurity best practice guidelines for employees to follow so that they can keep their organization safe from data breaches and cyberthreats.

Learn The Best Cybersecurity Practices

How to recognize and avoid phishing attacks

Phishing refers to a social engineering tactic in which an attacker sends a fake message to an employee via email, instant messaging, or text message. The message tries to convince the employee that they will click on a link that downloads malware, freezes their system as part a ransomware attack, or divulges sensitive information.

Scam emails should be avoided by employees. Employees must take extra precautions when opening suspicious email attachments. Employees should be trained on the common red flags to recognize phishing attempts by organizations. A phishing campaign simulation can be used to test the employee’s ability and effectiveness in avoiding attacks. It is best to not enter any personal information or company information via email, pop-up website, or other communication that you did not initiate.

Use multi-factor authentication and complex passwords

It is important to ensure that your organization is secure online by ensuring that passwords used by employees are unique and complex. Combination of upper and lowercase alphabets, numbers, and symbols. Employees who use simple passwords that are easy-to-remember will be able to gain access to sensitive information and company infrastructure.

Employees should enable multi-factor authentication whenever possible. This adds an extra layer of security by asking you to complete at least one additional step, such as providing a temporary code sent to your phone, to log in. Even if a password has been compromised, criminals will still need to have access to another factor to gain access. SpartanTec in Columbia SC can provide your employees with a variety of tools to manage their passwords and help them stay safe.

In addition to the best practices mentioned above, organizations should have policies in place that ensure passwords are regularly changed and not shared with employees. These activities can improve an organization’s cyber security.

Utilizing secure wi-fi networks

It is easy to ensure that your office wi-fi network remains secure and encrypted. However, remote working arrangements mean that organizations must equip employees with the tools they need to protect their data. Due to their open access and lack of security features, public wi-fi networks can pose a significant threat to information security.

Employers can help protect themselves and their information security by ensuring that their employees use virtual private networks (or VPNs) when connecting to their devices via public WiFi networks. VPNs allow for anonymous and undetectable online activity which greatly reduces the chance of someone gaining access to your company’s network or systems.

Data encryption and protection are important

Employers must ensure that they do not disclose any sensitive information to the general public. They also need to take extra precautions when sharing or communicating sensitive information online. The workplace should be treated in the same manner as individuals who avoid giving out their credit card numbers when they answer unsolicited emails, phone calls, or text messages.

Hackers can use clever deception techniques to fool employees by posing as government officials or higher management. Employees should exercise extreme caution when sharing sensitive information. They must double-check the legitimacy of requests and encryption data before they are sent, to ensure that only the intended recipient can access the data with the help a decryption keys.

Make sure you keep your software current and make sure that you have the most recent patches installed on all devices.

The threats to cybersecurity in Columbia SC change constantly, and new vulnerabilities are being discovered each day. Organizations must ensure that employees keep their operating systems, web browsers and security software up-to-date. To combat new cyber threats, antivirus and antimalware programs must be updated regularly. Employees must ensure that their personal devices used to access company networks are updated with the most recent security patches.

Security training and awareness programs should be taken seriously

Onboarding a new employee should not be treated as an afterthought, or as a compliance requirement. Training and awareness programs are essential parts of any onboarding process. Cyber security is not the sole responsibility of the IT department. It also falls on the shoulders of the Information security team. However, employees are responsible for understanding and implementing their organization’s cybersecurity policies. Employees can learn about cyber threats by engaging in training and security awareness materials provided by the organization. This will help them to identify and prevent data breaches and increase their ability to detect dangerous attachments.

Keep a backup of all your critical data

Backup solutions are the best way to protect your business and personal information. Ransomware is one of the most serious threats to your data. Ransomware, a type of malware that encrypts victim’s files and systems, is known as ransomware. Ransomware attacks can cause a company to collapse by encrypting its files, systems and networks.

Ransomware attacks could cause permanent data loss. It is important that employees regularly back up their information using a cloud backup (preferable) or a physical hard drive backup. Cloud backup makes a copy of your data and stores it on a server. It then hosts it in a separate location. Employees should take extra precautions to ensure that physical backups are stored securely and encrypted. These methods can be used to restore data in the event that an employee’s system is corrupted or hack.

What can SpartanTec, Inc. do?

Employers play an important role in information security. By implementing these cybersecurity best practices, employees can make sure that they are contributing to the company’s high level of cybersecurity.