Did you know that October was Cyber Security Awareness Month (CSAM) in Canada? It’s an important time of the year for businesses to learn how to better protect their network, workplace and devices through cybersecurity measures.
The official tagline for this year’s cyber security awareness month was - “Be Cyber Resilient: Stay Aware | Think Resilience | Take Action.”
As a business owner in 2021, cybersecurity needs to be the top of your agenda. Every year, thousands of small and medium-sized businesses lose money and sensitive data to cybercriminals.
With that in mind, here are some things you can do right now to quickly improve your organization’s cybersecurity strategy:
Conduct a comprehensive assessment of your cybersecurity program
To truly improve and enhance your cybersecurity strategy, your organization needs to be fully aware of the cyberthreats and risks that your organization faces on a daily basis. That includes both internal and external vulnerabilities, and how they may impact your business if a cybercriminal is able to take advantage of them.
Conducting a thorough assessment of your current cybersecurity strategy will ensure that you gain a better understanding of your current policies, and where you can improve your cybersecurity through new technologies and the implementation of best practices.
Gain a complete understanding of your technology
How will you ever know how to improve your cybersecurity strategy, if you don’t know what you are protecting? To truly enhance your cybersecurity you need to gain a complete understanding of what technologies you use, what data you need to protect and where all of that information is stored.
When you understand both your technologies and your sensitive data, you’ll be able to implement tactics such as data backups, password managers and security monitoring for all of those systems.
Train your employees to limit internal vulnerabilities
The frontline of your organization's cybersecurity strategy is your employees. One of the single most effective ways to improve cybersecurity is to train your employees on the threats your business faces, both internally and externally, as well as the best practices they can adopt to improve your cybersecurity measures.
These best practices could include anything from:
- Raising awareness of cyber threats and the impact they could have on your business.
- Implementing good password hygiene practices.
- Ensuring employees download software patches when needed.
- How to safely surf the internet.
- How to safely download files and store data.
Document your cybersecurity policies
Small and medium-sized businesses typically operate by word of mouth and institutional knowledge, but when it comes to cybersecurity it’s absolutely essential to document your policies to ensure your entire team is on the same page.
A comprehensive cybersecurity strategy should involve a detailed document with training tools, checklists, the technologies in place and all other initiatives that are being used to protect your business. This will ensure your cybersecurity policies are maintained, no matter how much your team changes.
Schedule a consultation with a cybersecurity expert
Your organization isn’t expected to be a cybersecurity expert, especially if you have a small IT team - but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look for ways in which you can mitigate the risks of cyber threats.
If you don’t have the time and resources to implement a cybersecurity strategy in-house, then don’t be afraid to schedule a consultation with an expert.
Here at OT Group we have a range of innovative cybersecurity solutions, including the end-to-end cybersecurity software solution Covalence. We would love to help secure your organization from the threat of cyber attacks. Book a demo with us today.
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