Be in control, your data is too important!

Everyone will agree that we live in a digital age and the future is even more digitized. The world is moving forward, but sadly not everyone wants to admit that.

I might not be a cyber-security expert, but working with IT, it is important for me to know and recognize possible threats for the business, to make sure right people are informed and actions are taken. 

Digital security is becoming more and more important in a fast pace world we live, however, it seems only some companies understands how IT security issues could impact their business. 

Hackers, malwares, data theft, emails or process compromise, angry released employees, guests and many more threats that could harm or even destroy your business.

Some might think - let’s not get to crazy or paranoid, but having in mind that so many devices are connecting daily to corporate network’s – private phone, tablet, guest laptop’s, webcams, smart TVs, IoT devices etc. it is hard to understand why security measures often are taken lightly.

It is not a big surprise if a company has an easy to remember, non-complicated passwords and moreover, never changed it on their networks or computers, nor has separate network for company, private or guest’s devices.

It is likely that private phones or ipads will not be used for work, so why keep it on your network? Some might say it is too big of a hassle to create setup like that, but all devices that are on the network without any good security measures, can get access to all critical data in that organization.

Ransomware is a good example. It is a type of malware that spreads over the network and locks your systems or encrypts files and demands ransom payment. Its activities and different new variations have increased drastically over the last few years. Whole infrastructures have been created, giving the possibility for even the lesser technical hackers to earn money from using it. Without having a good backup solution, you can get into very unpleasant situations. It is not enough anymore to have a backup on a single shared drive. Ransomware attacks have become a daily thing and it is very costly for the businesses.

Imagine a company with lots of personal data of their employees or customers and how critical it is for the company to keep that data safe.

A company that is so busy with their daily work that they miss intruders and suddenly, all transactions goes to some unknown account without immediate notice.

Or sloppy IT people who give access to everyone they know (or not), especially over the email or phone.

Statistics shows that Apple, Android and Adobe vulnerability has increased over the last years were Microsoft products improved their safety and decreased possible openings. Statement such as “I have iOS and I am safe” is not valid anymore.

There is a reason why some corporations or banks are spending so much time, effort and money to secure their data and access. Need of good strategy and knowledge to do so is required. Firewall, antivirus or common sense is not enough anymore. Cyber-criminals are becoming more and more creative and security professionals needs to start looking at how hackers think, get familiar with their goals and tools instead of implementing basic access restrictions.

While there is no such thing as 100% security, taking good measures, training your employees and implementing required solutions and policies that could stop threats at the beginning stage will make the risk of being hacked very minimal.

Business managers often believe that IT guy or department in the corner will solve all their problems, be it hardware, software, security and such. However, security is a huge area and for that, you need someone who understands it.

There are many companies that specialize in security/vulnerability testing and it is worth the price to know how secure you are and if your IT people are doing a good job. Too many think that security solutions are too expensive, but is it worth to take a risk of losing business or reputation? 

Investments into security will allow you to sleep good at night, knowing that the possibility of backfire from security mistakes is minimal or close to zero.

Don’t wait until something will happen – Take actions!