The rising cyberattacks have pushed the need for cybersecurity awareness
We live in a digital world where we deal with a wide range of cyber risks and threats. Most cases of data breaches suggest that businesses of all types and sizes are at risk of a cyberattack anytime and anyplace. According to Trend Micro’s biannual Cyber Risk Index (CRI) report, 86 percent of companies surveyed said they may suffer a data breach in the next 12 months. The report also highlighted the top four data types at the highest risk of loss: financial information, business communication (email), consumer data, and analytics (data models). These data types could dramatically affect the health of an organization.
Here are the three steps that can protect your company against cyberattacks.
- Lock your computer
Manually locking your computer is the primary step of cybersecurity. There’s no real reason to justify leaving your work devices unattended and unlocked. Always log out or lock your computer even if you are stepping away for a minute. This step will prevent data leaks to unauthorized users. In addition to locking your computer, always change your password every three months.
- Encrypt all the data
Data encryption is one of the most common and effective steps organizations implement when it comes to cybercrimes. It secures the transmitted and stored data on computer systems or the cloud. The process of encryption converts the readable data into an unreadable or encoded format. Only the person who holds the secret key can decrypt or access the data. Fortunately, there are various free & paid encryption software tools online to protect your data from cybercriminals. Some encryption software tools are free for a limited time, while some are always free with limited features. Examples of free encryption software tools are VeraCrypt, Folder Lock, AxCrypt, BitLocker.
- Use a password manager
To date, the password remains the most common and widely used authentication method. Remembering passwords for multiple accounts can be challenging and frustrating. This is where a password manager can come in handy. A password manager software typically saves, generates and manages passwords for multiple accounts. It not only helps in creating unique and robust passwords, but also protects users from phishing attacks. Many password managers pop up a warning when a user falls for a phishing email or link. Therefore, opting for a good password manager is a must in a current scenario where cyber threats are rising. The good news is that there are some password managers available online for free. Here are few examples: LastPass, Myki, LogMeOnce, Bitwarden.
Now that you know all the basics of cybersecurity, you can have a safe internet browsing experience. But you may ask, why is this important?
Amazon & T-Mobile: the brunt of a data breach
Despite security measures, many organizations experience security threats. Recently, the American telecom giant T-Mobile bore the brunt of a massive data breach. Last week, T-Mobile announced that hackers had compromised the data of about 50 million users. The company encouraged its customers to change their PINs and password proactively. T-Mobile discovered the breach when hackers posted the stolen database on an online forum. To combat future cybercrimes, T-Mobile is offering free McAfee’s ID Theft Protection Service for two years to those impacted by the latest breach.
Even e-commerce company Amazon could not save its customers from cybercrime. According to an internal document obtained by Motherboard, Amazon has found four cases where its security team identified four incidents of data theft. “We have a security gap as we don’t have a reliable mechanism for verifying that users are who they claim they are,” Amazon states in the document.
As a result, Amazon is planning to monitor employees’ keystrokes and mouseclicks to prevent data leaks. It is considering to opt a software called BehavioSec. The biometrics software protects human-digital identities by understanding how they uniquely type and swipe across the ever-changing devices.
Amazon is doing its every bit to secure its data.
Header image courtesy of Unsplash
