IT Good Practice: Security Checklist
Keeping up with the evolving security landscape is one of the biggest challenges for businesses. Read our IT Security Checklist to help secure and protect your systems.
Keeping up with the evolving security landscape is one of the biggest challenges for businesses. As always, prevention is better than cure, so we've prepared the following checklist to help secure and protect your systems:
- Invest in good email protection
91% of cyber-attacks start through email. Invest in advanced email protection, such as that provided my Mimecast, to protect against sophisticated email impersonation threats like spear-phishing and whaling.
- Secure your network
Secure your network peripherals and invest in a good firewall to provide a strong first line of defence. Password protect your WIFI and ensure network passwords are strong and regularly updated. Passwords should contain a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters as well as numbers or special symbols (like % or $).
- Install patch updates
Failing to install software patch updates is arguably the number one reason your network security will fail. Swiftly deploying patch updates fixes vulnerabilities that may otherwise be exploited by cyber-criminals.
- Ensure your software and hardware is up-to-date
Up-to-date software and hardware is less prone to failure compared to their older versions. Newer technology is more resistant to cyberattacks and can help increase productivity.
- Encrypt your data
Encrypt your confidential data using the most advanced encryption methods to protect it from being exploited by hackers.
- Secure your mobile
Cyber-attacks against mobile devices are increasingly prevalent. Invest in a mobile device management software to enforce company security policies, manage apps and wipe company data when required.
- Backup your data
Establish a proper backup for all your systems, processes and data. Ensure you take regular backups and the restore process works effectively.
- Educate your employees
The weakest link in the security chain of most business networks is often the employees themselves. Educating your users to have a basic understanding of information security and use a little common sense can therefore prove invaluable. As a rule of thumb, employees should never open an email attachment unless they are 100% sure of the sender and content. If in doubt, check with your IT support! Finally, for more specific ransomware protection, read our Top 10 Tips to Protect against Ransomware.
