Introduction:
Cybersecurity is on the increase every single day.
Let’s look at some 2022 stats:
- 493.33 million ransomware attacks were detected by organisations worldwide
- Phishing remains the most common cyber attack, with approximately 3.4 billion daily spam emails
- The global average data breach cost was $4.35 million
- The average cost of breaches resulting from stolen or compromised credentials amounted to $4.50 million
As long as businesses like yours continue to adopt technology solutions, cybercrime will exist.
So how do you protect your business from cybercriminals?
The Difference between Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus
There are two levels of certification: Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus.
- Cyber Essentials: This self-assessment option is designed to be simple and user-friendly. It educates businesses about common cyber-attacks, risk identification, and prevention. The five areas covered are Firewalls, Secure Configuration, User Access Control, Malware Protection, and Patch Management. After passing the assessment, businesses receive a Cyber Essentials certificate, offering peace of mind to both them and their customers.
- Cyber Essentials Plus: The material and requirements are the same as Cyber Essentials, but the key difference is the requirement for an independent on-site security vulnerability assessment. This thorough assessment enhances network defences and is highly regarded by other businesses. It is especially beneficial for companies with remote workers or shared assets with third parties.
Cyber Essentials Plus is suitable for all businesses but those who have remote workers or share assets with third parties benefit the most from it.
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Be aware of cyber attack types
Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts a victim's files and demands a ransom payment in exchange for the decryption key. Ransomware attacks are on the rise, and businesses of all sizes are at risk.
There are a few things you can do to protect your business from ransomware attacks:
- Use a firewall: Protection for your computer from unauthorised access
- Use antivirus software: Helps detect and remove malware from your computer
- Educate your employees: Your employees should be aware of the risks of all types of cyber attacks and know how to protect themselves
- Use a cloud-based backup service: Access your backups from anywhere in the world
- Encrypt your data: Make it more difficult for hackers to decrypt your files
- Use a password manager: Keep track of all of your passwords and make it easier to change them regularly
- Have a disaster recovery plan: Outlines how you will recover your business in the event of a ransomware attack
Phishing
Phishing is a type of social engineering attack that uses email or text messages to trick people into revealing sensitive information - such as their passwords or credit card numbers.
To protect your business from phishing attacks, you should:
- Be careful about what emails and text messages you open: Don't open emails or text messages from senders you don't know
- Look for red flags in emails and text messages: Phishing emails and text messages often contain misspellings, grammatical errors, and urgent requests for information
- Never click on links or open attachments in emails or text messages from senders you don't know: If you're not sure if an email or text message is legitimate, you can hover your mouse over the link or attachment to see the URL or file name. If the URL or file name looks suspicious, don't click on it
Malware
Malware is software that is designed to harm a computer system. Malware can take many forms, including viruses, worms, and Trojans.
Here’s how to protect your business from malware attacks:
- Keep your software up to date: Software updates often include security patches that can help protect your systems from malware
- Use antivirus software: Antivirus software can help detect and remove malware from your computer
- Be careful about what websites you visit and what files you download: Malware can often be downloaded from websites or infected files
Zero-day attacks
Zero-day attacks are attacks that exploit vulnerabilities in software that the software vendor is not aware of. Zero-day attacks are often very difficult to defend against, as there is no patch available to fix the vulnerability.
To protect against zero-day attacks:
- Monitor reported vulnerabilities: This will help you identify any vulnerabilities that may be exploited by zero-day attacks
- Install next-gen antivirus solutions (NGAV): Designed to detect and remove zero-day attacks, NGAV uses a variety of techniques - such as behavioural analysis and machine learning, to identify threats that traditional antivirus solutions may miss
- Perform rigorous patch management: By keeping your software up to date, you can ensure that you have the latest security patches that can help protect your systems from known vulnerabilities
- Install a robust web application firewall (WAF): WAFs use rules and filters to block malicious traffic before it reaches your website or web application
- Practise the principle of least privilege: This means giving users only the permissions they need to do their jobs. This can help reduce the risk of zero-day attacks, as users will only have access to the data and systems they need
DDoS attacks
DDoS attacks are attacks that flood a website or server with so much traffic that it becomes unavailable. DDoS attacks can be used to disrupt businesses, government websites, and other organisations.
To protect your business from DDoS attacks, you should:
- Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN can help distribute your website's traffic across a network of servers, which can help mitigate the impact of a DDoS attack
- Switch to a hybrid or cloud-based solution: Doing so usually gives you access to unlimited bandwidth. Many websites that are affected by DDoS are sites which run with limited resources.
- Use a load balancer: Improving your bandwidth by distributing traffic across multiple servers, can help to prevent any one server from becoming overloaded.
Cyber security solutions
Following the advice above will certainly get you started on the right road to cyber security awareness.
Why not consider our cyber security solutions? Both flexible and affordable, we can ensure that your IT systems, network, and data are all protected.
Our cyber security solutions include:
- Backup and Recovery
- Cyber Essentials
- GDPR Compliance
- Internet Security Solutions
- Layered Protection
- Managed Endpoint Security
- Penetration Testing
- Phishing Simulation
- Ransomware Protection
- User Awareness Training
Get in touch today to speak with one of the security team about your options.