Cybersecurity is a dynamic, necessary element of your business’s longevity and liability management framework. Staying on top of the latest trends and maintaining comprehensive coverage is key to securing your place in the market—and keeping up good “cyber hygiene” is an important and accessible step to a safer cybersecurity landscape overall.
This leads us to the question: What counts as cyber hygiene?
Read on for our definition, as well as strategic steps you can leverage in your current strategy to make it safer, more comprehensive and liability-conscious.
What is cyber hygiene?
Cyber hygiene is a term that not many are familiar with, as the term is still continuing to make its rounds around the industry. In essence, it’s a definition that covers all of the steps you take to keep your system and network safe from cyber threats. While this can seem general and simple, it isn’t—and missteps here could cause serious damage to your brand awareness and perception in the market.
The best way to protect against this risk is consistent evaluation and classification of your risks, as well as the creation of a preventative strategy to protect your brand from as many threats as possible.
We’ve put together a list of some of the industry’s top best practices to help you get a headstart on your cyber hygiene focus.
1. Use multi-factor authentication
Often dreaded by corporate leaders and team members alike, this important step can protect your devices and your network from a breach. Technology has evolved in this area, allowing your team members several different ways that they can sign in in seconds. Ensuring that this is followed across your organization (including in online and hybrid formats) is a great preventative step to take as you develop a Zero Trust framework for your org.
2. Keep regular back-ups
When your team gets the backup notification, do you think they click right off of it? Many of them might—and this can pose a serious threat to your network. In the event of a cybersecurity threat, you can lose critical data. Backups help guard against this, keeping you free from the risk of lost downtime due to lost data. Additionally, they can also be helpful references in the event of a system failure, power outage or natural disaster. It’s better to be thankful that you spent the time doing it than wishing you had!
3. Install, update and cycle antivirus and malware software
We know this seems common—but many organizations may not be up-to-date or fully covered with their antivirus and malware options. Sometimes the seemingly-basic steps can present the most risks when missed, which is why we wanted to add this one to our “big three” of cyber hygiene.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham has noted that antivirus is generally only 25% successful at detecting malware in a given system—which is why it’s always a strong idea to have both employed in your cybersecurity strategy.
Make a custom cybersecurity strategy that fits your needs
Looking for extra support? The team at CHIPS has you covered. Connect with us today for a custom cybersecurity strategy that’s outfitted to your needs. We look forward to supporting you.
