Cyber security. We’ve all heard of it and we all recognise its importance. But, if we know it should be a business priority, why is cyber security so often put on the back burner?
At CVD, we know a thing or two about cyber security. We have put together a list of common security mistakes and a checklist on how you can improve cyber security in your business.
Keep reading to find out if you and your company’s cyber security meets the mark.
The 2 Major Security Mistakes
Let’s talk about passwords. Many of the security issues we see here at CVD are easily treatable password issues. According to research from NordPass, the most common passwords in Australia for 2021 were ‘123456’ and ‘password’.
Using weak passwords like these put your accounts and information at risk from hackers. And whilst you know not to use an easily guessable password, there may be other oversights you’re making.
Using personal details for passwords and passcodes
One way to avoid cyber attacks is to stop using personal details and events such as anniversaries, birthdays, and partners’ names for passwords. In this day and age, we are sharing more and more personal information online and it is shockingly easy to find out personal details.
Whether it is via ransacking social media accounts or purchasing access to identity directories and databases, your information is out there for offenders to see. The memorable information you share may be used to try and access your business and personal accounts.
Password reuse
It may seem tempting to use a ‘strong’ password on all of your online accounts. It’s seemingly easy for you to remember and it’s not easy to guess, right? Not exactly. Reusing passwords on different platforms puts you and your business at great risk.
If one site is hacked and data is breached, wherever you have used that email and password are now at risk. By using unique passwords for online accounts, you’re saving yourself the headache of having all your accounts is compromised if one is breached.
Steps to Improve Your Cyber Security
1. Embrace a password management system
Think of a password management system as a vault to store all of your passwords. Only you know the combination to unlock the unique and complex passwords for a variety of platforms and devices. But unlike a conventional ‘safe’, these systems will alert you to potential data leaks and prevent you from password reuse.
Having a secure, cross-platform password management system is essential for any business. It ensures your employees have safe and secure passwords across all platforms with access to selected company accounts.
We highly recommend using a password management system to improve your cyber security. We assist with the set-up, implementation of password management systems which provide safely stored, unique passwords for both company and employee accounts.
2. Audit all business accounts
To understand how to best protect your business accounts and software, an audit of all websites where business email and passwords are used is necessary. Our CVD team offer services to assist in auditing your accounts and finding ways to improve your cyber security.
Once you have an exhaustive accounts list, go through and work out which platforms are a necessity and which ones are redundant. By deleting and deactivating irrelevant account logins, you are removing the risk of those accounts being compromised.
With the assistance of the CVD team, we can ensure that all of your remaining accounts are secure and share the least amount of private business information possible. The cyber solutions we offer can detect potential cyber security breaches and alert you of them almost immediately.
3. Set up two-factor authentication
At Cloud Voice & Data, we are strong believers in employing two-factor authentication and recommend using it wherever possible for an extra layer of protection online.
Two-factor authentication requires two distinct forms of user authentication to log into an account. This strengthens the security of your online accounts by minimising the risk of non-approved users accessing your business’ accounts, even with a correct password.
We can help your business set up a two-factor authentication app that will need verification from only approved individuals to access the accounts. Once two-factor authentication is set up, only approved users can access accounts with a verification code sent to a mobile number or an app.
4. Set up a cyber security plan with CVD
Don’t be an easy mark for hackers – protect yourself and your business with a cyber security plan. This won’t eliminate cyber risks, but it will minimise them.
Our thorough understanding of cyber security ensures that we offer our clients the safest and best security software and solutions. We assist with security programs, password policies, two-factor authentication and many more safeguards for a comprehensive cyber security plan.
It’s 2022 and businesses have come a long way in terms of cyber security basics. Cyber security is a major and evolving threat to any business and protecting your data is impertinent. At CVD, we work with your business directly to increase cyber security for your business and provide support at every stage.
So, how does your business’ cyber security measure up? View our cyber security solutions below and book a consult with our experts.
Written by David Fenech
Cloud Voice & Data’s CTO with 20 years of experience in commercially driven IT operations.