Modern Cybersecurity Practices and their need

Is your sensitive data secure? It’s no exaggeration: any organization can fall victim to cybercrime. Reports of cyberattacks appear from government organizations, educational and healthcare companies, banks, law firms, nonprofits, and many other institutions.

Hackers, insider threats, ransomware, and other threats are out there. Smart businesses are spending more on cybersecurity to reduce risks and have their sensitive data safe, and this has already produced the first results. Don’t know where to start with improving your cybersecurity strategy? We’re ready to tell you about cybersecurity trends and the latest techniques.

 Here’s our cybersecurity best practices checklist:

1. Consider biometric security

Biometrics ensures fast authentication, safe access management, and accurate employee monitoring.

Authenticating users’ identities before granting access to valuable assets is important for businesses. Voice recognition, fingerprint scans, palm biometrics, facial identification, behavioral biometrics, and gait analysis are excellent options to identify whether or not users are who they pretend to be.

Using biometrics gives more secure authentication than passwords and SMS verification. That’s why biometrics has already become a crucial part of multi-factor authentication. However, authentication isn’t the only application for biometrics. Security officers benefit from a broad range of biometrics-driven tools that enable them to identify compromised privileged accounts in real-time.

Behavioral biometrics examines the way users interact with input devices. If abnormal behavior is identified, a tool sends a signal to security officers so they can react immediately.

2. Form a hierarchical cybersecurity policy

Why is a written cybersecurity policy so necessary? First, a written policy works as a formal guide to all cybersecurity standards used in your company. It enables your security specialists and employees to be on the same page and presents you with a way to enforce rules that preserve your data. However, the workflow of each department can be different and can easily be interrupted by needless cybersecurity measures.

While a centralized security policy can be useful as a basic guideline for the whole company, it shouldn’t include every process in every department. Instead, provide your departments to build their own security policies based on the central policy. There are many advantages to staking out your security policies in such a hierarchical way. By doing so, you consider the requirements of every department and assure that their workflows and your bottom line won’t be negotiated in the name of security. 

3. Employ a risk-based approach to security

 Regulatory compliance can’t preserve your data. Each industry has its own special and hidden risks, so concentrating on compliance and meeting all the usual regulations isn’t enough to preserve your sensitive data. Pay attention to the risks that your corporation faces and how they transform the bottom line. Your best tool here is a thorough risk assessment.

Proper risk assessment enables you to avoid lots of unpleasant things like fines for failing to comply with regulations, remediation costs for possible leaks and breaches, and the losses from missing or ineffective processes.

Recognize the weak points in your cybersecurity and make adjustments respectively. Also, keep an eye on new hacking systems using databases and frameworks, such as the MITRE ATT&CK for the business. A thorough risk assessment will help you prioritize your security standards and make your approach serve the corporate bottom line in the best way possible.

4. Back up your data

Ensure the security of your data by frequently backing it up. Backing up data is one of the information security best methods that has gained relevance in recent years. With the advent of ransomware, having a full and modern backup of all your data can be a lifesaver.

How can you manage backups? You need to make sure that they’re thoroughly preserved, encrypted, and frequently updated. It’s also necessary to divide backup duty among several people to mitigate insider threats.

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) gives a document detailing various data backup options. There’s also a great write-up from the FBI on ransomware that you should understand if you want more information on this topic.

5. Manage IoT security

 This year continues the trend from 2018 – IoT devices keep getting popularity. The most challenging thing about IoT devices is their access to sensitive data. Security cameras, doorbells, smart door locks, heating systems, office equipment – all of these small sections of your business network are possible access points. A compromised printer, for instance, can allow malicious actors to inspect all documents that are being printed or scanned.

Here are some corporate network security best practices:

• Conduct penetration testing to know the real risks and plan your security strategy respectively.
• Present encryption for both data at rest and in transit (end-to-end encryption).
• Ensure proper authentication to enable only trusted connections to endpoints.
• Don’t use default hard-coded credentials: commonly used passwords are simple to find on the internet.
• Purchase a secure and up-to-date router and allow the firewall.
• Produce a scalable security framework to support all IoT deployments.
• Consider implementing endpoint security solutions.

6. Use multi-factor authentication

 Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a must-have solution for advanced security approaches. Though it’s a basic implementation, MFA still belongs with the cybersecurity best practices. It’s so efficient that the National Cyber Security Alliance has also added MFA to its safety information and education campaign.

MFA helps you preserve sensitive data by attaching an extra layer of security, leaving malicious actors with nearly no chance to log in as if they were you.

Even if a malicious actor had your password, they would still require your second and maybe third “factor” of authentication, such as a security token, your mobile phone, your fingerprint, or your voice.

As an appended benefit, MFA also enables you to clearly differentiate among users of shared accounts, improving your access control.

7. Handle passwords securely

It always pays to discuss the importance of thoughtful passwords and secure password handling. Password management is a fundamental part of corporate security, especially when it occurs to privileged access management (PAM). Privileged accounts are gems for cybercriminals who try to gain access to your delicate data and the most valuable business information.

The best way to assure proper security is to use specialized tools, such as password vaults and PAM solutions. This way, you can restrict unauthorized users from accessing privileged accounts and analyze password management for employees at the same time.

The first thing you require to know is that a password requires to be long, complex, and fully unique. It should be simple for you to remember but hard for others to guess

Cyber threat actors still use password spray attacks to steal sensitive data, disrupt operations, and harm both an institution’s finances and reputation.

Here are the major tips you should consider when building password requirements for your employees:

• Use one password for one account.
• Use memorable phrases rather than short strings of random characters.
• Use mnemonics or other individual tactics to remember long passwords.
• No sharing credentials with each other, no matter how convenient.
• Need employees to change passwords after a set period of time.

The cybersecurity best practices discussed above will help you protect your data and your business’s reputation. However, performing them is another challenge altogether.

At TestUnity, we offer robust insider threat protection solutions that incorporate most of the cybersecurity practices discussed above. Contact us if you’re ready to enhance your corporate security.

TestUnity

Testunity is a SaaS-based technology platform driven by a vast community of testers & QAs spread around the world, powered by technology & testing experts to create the dedicated testing hub. Which is capable of providing almost all kind of testing services for almost all the platforms exists in software word.