Cyber Security Protocols
It happens to the best of us – one of the employees clicks on a suspicious link, enters a phishing site, or downloads a file that allows a virus to attack the device and take over the computer.
Cyber attacks have become more common and more sophisticated, and many organizations find them beneath a perpetual day of security breaches. One factor in the success of a cyber attack – is the company’s employees. Human errors are common, revenge by unscrupulous employees is also an option, and criminal negligence in choosing easy passwords.
However, it is possible to reduce the likelihood of being exposed to cyber attacks by writing cyber security protocols and implementing them in the organization, creating a cyber-oriented organizational policy.
Here is everything you need to know about writing cybersecurity protocols in organizations.
What Are Cyber Security Protocols?
Cyber security procedures are plans, protocols, actions, and measures aimed at protecting your organization from malicious attacks, data breaches, and other security incidents. In order to test the protected organization, on others, different protocols and software work together. Where there are multiple ways to gain access to networks, systems, and sensitive data, the organization must implement more than one security measure, and test and update these measures regularly.
The Importance Of Cyber Security Protocols
Many tend to think that cyber defenses are unnecessary and expensive, but given the hostile reality, they are a necessity. Not only are cyber-attacks against organizations becoming more common, but their price is also increasing, and every organization has to part with a lot of money after such an attack. Where data and information are the most valuable assets for organizations, and with the development of technology that allows us to access this information from anywhere, the dangers only increase. Small businesses tend to think they are protected under the radar of hackers, however, this can be a fatal mistake. Many more hackers attack small businesses, and sometimes it is a death blow – a study from 2020 revealed that 60% of the businesses that suffered a cyber attack went out of business as a result.
Who Is Responsible For Writing Cyber Security Protocols?
Often the person responsible for writing and implementing information security procedures is the CISO of organizations. They have a full-time CISO, as this is a difficult position to fill. Many security companies offer CISO as a Service – a model that allows businesses to hire the services of a CISO externally and pay a salary according to the amount of time spent.
What Cyber Security Protocols Should Include?
Password Management & Two-Step Verification
Using a password manager, such as 1Password, allows you to set strong and unique passwords for personal and different organization accounts, both from mobile and from desktop/laptop computers. There are quite a few password managers, free and paid, but when choosing a password manager it is important to understand that everyone has different needs, and you must find the right manager for you. When choosing a password manager, you must take into account the level of security, the type of encryption, compatibility with software and hardware, user interface, and price.
In addition, it is important to enter another device, and it is better to add data such as geographic location, user activation, and information that can help the system understand whether it is a suitable user or an impostor.
Employee Vigilance
Phishing attacks are responsible for 90% of all social engineering, where phishing messages use emails and SMS that appear to be sent from a legitimate source to get users to open links and download files. Phishing is an attempt to steal sensitive information by impersonating information on the Internet. It is a method of deception that aims to make the user perform an action that will endanger his computer, either by installing malicious software or stealing sensitive information.
Phishing is an attempt to steal sensitive information by impersonation. It is a method of deception that aims to cause the user to act, usually by clicking an attached link, that will endanger their device. Phishing is the most popular method for social engineering, due to the great diversity in the types of phishing, which allow a simple and easy attack or prepared and targeted attacks, according to the preference of the imposters. SlashNext’s annual State of Phishing report shows a 61% increase in the rate of phishing attacks compared to 2021, accounting for more than 255 million attacks in 2022.
Avoiding Personal Devices At Work
It is recommended to use personal devices for work, and work devices for personal things.
Backing Up Sensitive Information
Examine your organization’s sensitive and essential documents – financial documents, human resources, protocols, and customer information – and create protocols for automatic backup when these documents are created. Invest in storing the responses on secure servers, protected by advanced information security systems.
Update
Software developers regularly find updates aimed at preventing the exploitation of a discovered weakness in the software. It is very important to pay attention to these updates if their frequency is high also as a sample Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft issue updates on a daily basis in light of the importance of their systems. Even systems that seem marginal to you, such as your CMS system or even the IoT systems from printers to the building maintenance systems, need updates, but with a lower frequency. In addition, there are so-called Legacy Products, which are working systems that the manufacturers have been working on all the time and have stopped issuing updates and supporting the system.
