October marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month. During this month, public- and private-sector organizations are working together to promote cyber protection awareness. These organizations can protect against ransomware, malware, and other cyber threats. They can also teach their employees what to do to avoid data breaches.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month provides a golden opportunity to improve cyber protection across your organization. With the right approach, you can give your employees the support that they need to secure all aspects of your organization’s operations.
Now, let’s look at six simple and effective ways that you and your employees can level up your organization’s cybersecurity awareness.
1. Update Your Software
If you haven’t done so already, develop a patch management schedule. You can deploy patches across your organization’s computers and mobile devices at regular intervals. By doing so, you can keep your software up to date. Most importantly, you can minimize the risk that cybercriminals can infiltrate outdated software to access your organization’s data and systems.
2. Restrict Access to Your Data and Systems
Make sure that your employees can only access the information and systems that they need to do their jobs. If a worker leaves your organization, remove their access to all of your data and systems. Along with these things, you can use multi-factor authentication (MFA). That way, your employees will have to provide two or more authentication factors to verify their identities before they can access your organization’s data and systems.
3. Utilize Strong Passwords
Require your employees to have passwords that contain a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters. In addition, require your workers to update their passwords frequently. And, any time an employee updates their password, make sure that this individual is required to create one that’s unique.
4. Back Up Your Data
Along with having data stored on your computers and other systems, establish offsite backups. For example, you can store data on site and in the cloud. This gives you access to your data, even if your on-site systems are compromised. When you store your data, make sure that you encrypt it as well.
5. Secure Your Wi-Fi
Set up public and private Wi-Fi connections for your organizations. Your public connection can be open to visitors. Meanwhile, your employees should use your private connection.
6. Perform Background Checks on New Employees
Conduct a thorough screening process to find out if potential new hires have criminal histories. If so, you may want to think twice about giving an employee with a criminal past access to your organization’s data and systems.
Make the Most of Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Cybersecurity Awareness Month comes once a year, but it can set the stage for long-lasting security improvements across your organization. You can develop cybersecurity rules that allow your employees to work safely and remain productive. On top of this, you can identify top talent that understands how to protect against cyber threats and help your organization thrive.
At Ascend Staffing, we take cybersecurity awareness seriously. We can help you find quality job candidates who understand the importance of cyber protection. To find out more, please contact us today.
