Cybersecurity – The Big Words Blog Site

5 Business Cybersecurity Questions You Always Wanted To Ask

My blog focuses on Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. Most businesses today have an online presence and there are thus cybersecurity threats of all kinds. It’s thus an area that it’s important to be knowledgeable of. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Business Cybersecurity Questions You Always Wanted To Ask.

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Cybersecurity is something that every business has to consider. It’s mandatory given today’s environment.

However, most companies aren’t asking the right questions.

Fortunately, this post has some answers. It guides you on where to look and which questions to ask so you can get responses from your team that allow you to move forward and protect your brand.

Here are some questions we’re going to answer in this post:

● How do phishing attacks work?
● What is continuous penetration testing?
● How do we assess our company’s cybersecurity risks?
● How does my brand balance cybersecurity with user and customer convenience?
● How can I stay ahead of evolving cyber threats in my industry?

How Do Phishing Attacks Work?

These days, many businesses want to know how phishing attacks work. These are among the most challenging of all, because of the human element.

Phishing attacks are where hackers use clever techniques to get unsuspecting staff members with network access to divulge the information they require to compromise company systems. Usually, phishing attempts take the form of emails sent to inboxes that look legitimate but that forward employees to fake websites where they can enter proprietary information.

What Is Continuous Penetration Testing?

Continuous penetration testing is a form of proactive cyber security where one firm pays another to constantly try to overwhelm its cyber defenses. It’s a sort of exercise for network security, ensuring that it is always up to date.

If penetration is successful, it allows the brand to highlight the weak spot and address it. The idea is to continuously improve the network with attacks and then reduce vulnerabilities at every step.

What’s nice about continuous penetration testing is that it’s completely safe. Anyone company can work with a trusted firm to do it and protect themselves.

How Do We Assess Our Company’s Cybersecurity Risks?

Assessing your company’s cybersecurity risks is a challenging endeavor and something you’ll need to put some considerable time and effort into. The best approach is to get a third party firm to audit your current measures and produce a report recommending improvements, if there are any.

Usually, your software-based defenses will be satisfactory. However, your staff training might be less than perfect and represent a weak point for your firm. After the report comes through, you can see what needs improving and get to work immediately.

How Does My Brand Balance Cybersecurity With User And Customer Convenience?

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This question is even more challenging to answer. Usually, it means looking for ways to streamline logins and ensure that security methods are in the background, out of the way of the user experience.

The best way to get around this is to invest in systems that make signing up and logging in safe in the first place. This can annoy some customers, but going through it with them will sometimes also appease them.

How Can I Stay Ahead Of Evolving Cyber Threats In My Industry?

You’ll want to work with professionals who understand the current state of play and what is likely to happen in the future. Industry magazines and cybersecurity journals are a great place to start.

Risk Management’s Significance in Cyber Security

A focus of my blog is Technology. In our current digital age, a critical field is Cybersecurity. Computer systems and networks of all kinds must be protected against all potential threats. The following sponsored post is entitled, Risk Management’s Significance in Cyber Security.

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Cybersecurity is a significant threat to all organizations. It can cause a company to lose revenue and reputation and even face fines.

However, a proper cybersecurity risk management strategy can help minimize the negative impact of these attacks. It can also improve the security posture of an organization.

Loss of Business Reputation

Whether it’s a data breach or hack, losing sensitive information can be a disaster for any business. However, what is more, damaging to a business is the loss of its reputation.

Hence, building and maintaining a good reputation for your organization is essential. This can be done by safeguarding personal digital assets and taking preventive measures to keep them safe.

Risk management is identifying, assessing, and reducing risks that could compromise an organization’s cyber security. It involves determining the likelihood and impact of each risk and determining how it fits within your predetermined level of acceptable risk.

Cybersecurity Risk Management Plan is a critical element of any cybersecurity strategy and should be implemented by all organizations. This will help you gain the trust of your clients and increase their loyalty towards your company.

Loss of Revenue

Whenever a company’s network is disrupted due to a cyber-attack, it can lose a significant amount of revenue. It could also result in losing business reputation and credibility among its clients.

A company can avoid these risks by implementing a sound cyber risk management framework. It would then be able to prevent the damage caused by cyber-attacks and save money from being spent on it.

The critical step is identifying, assessing, and selecting the mitigation strategy that works for your organization. It is a continuous process and should be regularly reviewed and tested.

Financial institutions are often exposed to internal cyber threats and operational vulnerabilities from their immediate business partners. The resulting information asymmetries make it difficult for firms to monitor their cybersecurity resilience against external risk.

Poor Resilience Rate

Cyber resilience is the ability of an organization to withstand and recover from a security breach or data loss event. This includes the ability to get critical systems back up and running as quickly as possible, as well as maintaining business continuity.

Achieving cyber resilience requires integrating cybersecurity with all aspects of the business – including not just IT but also sales, human resources, marketing, finance and supply chain operations. The goal is to identify and prioritize all data assets accessible to threats, then target security investments toward addressing those risks that most significantly impact the business.

A successful cyber resilience strategy never assumes that security will stop all attacks and breaches. Instead, it helps organizations survive inevitable attacks and penetrations, continue to do business under attack, discover violations and contain them, and ultimately win the war on cybersecurity despite its inevitability.

Unexpected Cyber-attacks

It is essential to manage risk in cyber security to prevent an unexpected cyber-attack. This is done by evaluating the risks of various systems and taking preventive measures to reduce them.

The unforeseen cyber-attacks can be costly to the company as they can disrupt the network and result in loss of revenue. Also, it can lead to a loss of business reputation among clients.

These attacks can be divided into different types based on their timing, impact, and potential to cause instability. They can be categorized into exacerbated, initiated, and slow-burn crises.

Initiated Crises: Attacks likely trigger instability and take months or years to plan and deploy. They typically aim at critical infrastructure, such as liquidity provision and funding markets, essential collateral, settlement, and transaction systems, and their associated vendor support systems.

An organization should identify the various risks based on their priority and take preventive measures to mitigate them. The high-priority risks should be prevented first, while the low-priority dangers can be handled later.

5 Best Cybersecurity Tips For Small Businesses

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“It is a big mistake to think that owning a small business reduces your risks of a cyber attack. And this erroneous mindset can cause budding entrepreneurs to compromise their cybersecurity practices.”

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Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. With more business being conducted in cyberspace, the need for effective cybersecurity is of the utmost importance. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Best Cybersecurity Tips For Small Businesses.

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It is a big mistake to think that owning a small business reduces your risks of a cyber attack. And this erroneous mindset can cause budding entrepreneurs to compromise their cybersecurity practices. In fact, the United States’ Congressional Small Business Committee discovered that 71% of cyber attacks were targeted at businesses with fewer than 100 employees.

Learning Cybersecurity Basics can help you run your business smoothly despite the rampant cyber threats seen in the current season of the pandemic. With the correct SIEM management services, you can ensure that your business is on the right track where cybersecurity is concerned. As a small business, cybersecurity should be on the forefront of your mind, especially when your business isn’t as big as the huge enterprises out there. Just because your business is small, doesn’t mean that it isn’t mighty, so protection is a must. On that note, here are five of some of the best cybersecurity tips for small businesses.

1. Use a firewall

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A firewall may act as one of the first security layers on your business. According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), all SMBs need to set up firewalls to create strong barriers between their organizational data and cyber-criminals. It’s also necessary to add an internal firewall, even if you have a standard external firewall. Ensure that your employees who are now working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic use firewalls on their home networks. In general, firewall software can greatly improve your business’ network security.

2. Document your cybersecurity policies

Revamping your organization’s cybersecurity culture starts with documenting your cybersecurity protocols. The SBA’s portal provides tons of useful information on how small business owners can protect their online businesses. Consider taking part in the C3 voluntary program for small businesses, as it offers a detailed toolkit for the best cybersecurity protocols and practices.

3. Develop a mobile device action plan

As much as they account for a large portion of web traffic, mobile devices may also create significant security challenges. That’s if they contain personal information or gain access to corporate networks. Management needs to configure systems requiring all users to password-protect their devices. You may also want to ask your team to install security apps and to encrypt their data. These can bar cyber-criminals from breaching employees’ mobile devices when they are connected to public networks. Create a mobile device action plan by laying down reporting procedures for stolen or missing equipment.

4. Use complex passwords and multiple-factor authentication

Ask your employees to avoid costly password mistakes. For example, encourage your employees not to reuse their passwords but instead to use strong and unique passwords. You can also consider implementing multi-factor authentication codes such as 2FA; these will demand extra information beyond passwords when unauthorized users attempt to log in to your systems. Find out from vendors who handle sensitive information if they can help you set up multi-factor verification codes for your business accounts.

5. Train employees on cybersecurity principles

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Finally, outline basic cybersecurity principles and practices for your workers to observe. Establish an effective internet usage guideline, and spell out the penalties associated with workers who violate your company’s cybersecurity principles. Management can create rules of behaviors detailing how the business protects customers’ valuable information. But it should also be about encouraging the smaller changes (something that’s probably the easiest to integrate). For example, get your team to use VPNs both on their phones (if they check work-related emails on their phones) and on their computers too.

Backup your essential business data along the line as you implement all effective cybersecurity measures. Automatic backups can safeguard your financial files, word documents, and other critical databases.

4 Ways To Improve The Security Of Your Business

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. No matter how novel and exciting your business idea is, you must secure it. You must optimize the security of your business on numerous fronts. The following contributed post is entitled, 4 Ways To Improve The Security Of Your Business.

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Regardless of the kind of business that you operate, you’ll want to keep all of your assets safe and sound. Whether it’s stock, technology, data, or money, there are several ways that you can enhance your security.

1 . Invest in CCTV

A good CCTV system is a must-have to keep your premises protected. CCTV cameras can function to deter criminals from targeting your property. As well as this, a CCTV monitoring system means that you’ll have evidence should a crime occur. The theft or damage of equipment or data will cost your business time and money both. CCTV can serve as a good damage control solution should the worst happen. Should extreme damages occur in the event of a break-in, it’s a good idea to call upon commercial restoration companies to provide help. Such companies can also assist in the event of high scale damages; from extreme weather to other structural disasters.

2 . Hire a security guard

To protect your business premises, a security guard can be a great call. Having a well-trained security professional will provide you with peace of mind that your building and employees are safe. A security guard will be able to monitor video surveillance around the building and ensure the correct access to the correct people. They can check ID and direct visitors as needed. Again, a security guard alone can be a great deterrent to potential thieves.

3. Cybersecurity

In the modern business world, cybersecurity is just as big an issue as physical security. It’s essential to put means in place to protect yourself online. When employees are accessing your network, ensure that you implement a multi-factor authentication system. Such a system involves several different checks to prove the identity of the employee. From biometric traits like fingerprints to codes sent via SMS; you can be sure that the right people have access. It can also be useful to hire an IT professional to perform a cybersecurity audit. An audit can identify and fix the weak points in your security system. When you implement new security solutions, ensure that you train your staff in terms of best practices. Using the internet to help your business can only be successful if you know how to stay safe online.

4. Install an alarm system

An effective alarm system is a great way to improve the security of your business. Such systems can alert the police quickly and efficiently should there be a break in. Regardless of an alarm system, it can be a good idea not to store all your valuables on-premises. Some businesses like to invest in storage solutions to have another place to keep valuable data or assets. Spreading your assets over multiple locations can be a good damage control solution.

Lastly, make sure that you backup your valuable documents and data and use the cloud as much as possible. If you’re concerned about cybersecurity, it can be beneficial to invest in a cybersecurity insurance policy. These policies can cover you in the event of a data breach, including any loss of revenue incurred as a result.