Cybersecurity breaches happen nearly every day at organizations around the world.
Cyber criminals have grown increasingly sophisticated in their attacks, causing the frequency of breaches to skyrocket. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, the number of breaches increased by 78 percent in 2023 compared to the prior year.
It’s no secret these incidents can cause significant financial, operational and reputational damage – and organizations of all sizes and industries must take precautions to protect themselves. In honor of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we’re sharing the top five tactics organizations can leverage to enhance their cybersecurity defense.
More than ever, cybercriminals are leveraging sophisticated phishing attacks to breach company systems. Employees are an organization’s first line of defense. Training them to recognize and report phishing attempts has become one of the most important tactics to keeping sensitive information safe.
Ransomware attacks where cybercriminals prevent company employees from accessing their computer files, systems or networks are becoming increasingly common. The rising frequency of these attacks makes it critical to regularly back up important company information. Maintaining data backups separate from your main system, perhaps with multiple providers, can add an extra layer of security should any single provider suffer a data breach.
Strong passwords are a first line of defense against bad actors accessing your network. Make sure your organization’s password requirements compel users to set strong passwords via more characters, upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. Encourage users to use random characters or long phrases and avoid common words, names or dates. And educate users to never share passwords. You can also use a password manager to generate passwords, store encrypted passwords, prevent reuse of passwords and advise users when passwords should be changed or are weak.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) has become a commonplace practice where users are required to provide more than just a password to log into their accounts. One example of multi-factor authentication is when users receive a one-time code via text or phone that they must enter in addition to their password to gain access. For single sign-on networks, it is also important to close potential “back doors” by making sure MFA is in place at multiple access points. Multi-factor authentication is one of the simplest and most effective ways to prevent cybercriminals from accessing private files or systems should they obtain a user’s credentials.
Updating your systems and installing security patches promptly is an essential component of keeping your company’s system and data safe. Think of security patches as a way to close holes in your security fence. If you fail to act promptly when system patches are released, you leave your organization vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a great time to brush up on cyber defense. Our experts at Conner Strong & Buckelew are going to be discussing cybersecurity and insurance issues all month long, offering tips to help organizations protect their data and systems. Not only are the tactics discussed above very effective in thwarting cyber attacks, but many cyber insurance carriers refuse to provide coverage unless these safety measures are in place.
Carriers often view these tactics as foundational musts and want to see additional layers of security when writing policies. At Conner Strong & Buckelew, our in-house cybersecurity experts can examine your situation and provide guidance to help you optimize your cybersecurity defense. We’re also deeply experienced in cyber insurance and can help your organization ensure it is protected.
For more information on how our team can help, please reach out to your Conner Strong & Buckelew representative, call us at 1-877-861-3220 or email [email protected].
