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Companies can expect to tighten their cybersecurity efforts in the New Year, especially considering the growing remote workforce. Unfortunately hackers and cyber security threats aren’t going anywhere, so finding new ways to secure your company’s technology and protect your customers’ data is a good practice to start ensuring the security of your business year-round.
10 members to give you some ideas of what you can do Young Entrepreneurs Council List some of their recommendations for improving your cybersecurity efforts for the New Year, and why doing so is critical to the well-being of your company and its stakeholders.
Members are pictured from left to right.
Photos courtesy of individual members.
1. Control access with role-based permissions
In an increasingly remote world, much of what we do is online. When we need to travel, it is important that our devices have access to all the information and resources we need. Of course, a key cybersecurity practice is to restrict access based on roles or employee functions. As you expand your workforce, this helps ensure that only select team members have administrative access. Roles can be quickly updated and modified if certain employees need to be given temporary access to certain assets or files. – Fras Kitane, Amerisleep mattress
2. Implement zero-trust cybersecurity
Zero-trust cybersecurity can protect an organization’s data, devices, and operations in ways that virtual private networks (VPNs) and reused passwords cannot. This is an approach to security in which all users are treated as untrusted entities. This means that even users authorized and authenticated by the system should not be implicitly trusted. This approach is flexible to evolving threats and changing access requirements. This type of system does not rely on predefined trust levels, but instead verifies the identity of users and devices before granting access to resources. By eliminating reliance on predefined trust levels, zero-trust security systems can better protect against threats such as advanced persistent attacks – Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day
3. Backup all essential data
If you want to improve your cyber security plan, I recommend that you back up all essential data related to your organization. Despite your best efforts, it is still possible for a hacker to break through the security and infiltrate your website. In the event of an attack, you must act fast. If cybercriminals attack your business, a backup of your information will make it easier to recover your site, protect customer data, and get things back to normal. – John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC
4. Require two-factor authentication
One of the quickest and most efficient ways to tighten security is to require two-factor authentication. This means providing two pieces of information instead of one before a team member logs in. For example, it might look like password and code. It’s an easy way to add extra security to online accounts without much time or extra costs. – Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker
5. Mandate the use of VPNs
One way for companies to consider tightening up their cybersecurity efforts for the new year is to ensure that all employees use VPNs when accessing company resources remotely. This is important because it helps ensure that only authorized users can access company data and that all data is encrypted while in transit. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing two-factor authentication for all remote access points, as this adds additional security and makes it more difficult for unauthorized users to gain access to corporate systems. – Sujay Pawar, Card Floss
6. Use a password manager
Organizations can tighten their cyber security by being extra cautious when it comes to information sharing. When working remotely, your employees need login credentials to access information stored in the cloud, and this is an exploit used by cybercriminals to penetrate your security. Regardless of the sophisticated measures you take to protect your information, not everyone on your team can do this. Many people don’t take their security seriously, which can lead to problems. So, instead of sharing login credentials, manage access to information with apps like LastPass and enable your employees to access information without knowing the credentials or backend information. This is a reliable way to tighten your security and reduce the risk of data intrusion. – Stephanie Wells, Strong forms
7. Slim down your deck stack
Conduct stock audit. How shared is your technology stack? How is it working for your teams? How is it protected? These are two questions you can use to conduct a stock audit. Your operations should use limited software outside of the office, where there is less control over usage. I recommend yearly operations stock audits. It’s easy for entrepreneurs to get bogged down in their technology stack in the name of efficiency, but sometimes the stack becomes too heavy and poses security risks. Whether you’re in or out of the office, too heavy a technology layer poses a risk, so always carry out regular audits. – Matthew Kabbalah, AlphaMedic
8. Consider a confidentiality agreement
A simple way for companies to tighten their cybersecurity efforts for the new year is to have employees sign a confidentiality agreement. This is important because it helps protect trade secrets and other important company information from accidental or intentional leaks. Physical and legal documentation like this can also help prevent malicious employees from stealing company data. However, don’t just give people a piece of paper to sign. Instead, train your staff and explain the point and value of the document. This will help them understand why it is important and how to take proper precautions when handling sensitive data. – Blair Williams, Member Pres
9. Meet regularly with your IT security team
I wanted to tighten up our cybersecurity program, so I started meeting with our IT security team once a month. We use this time to discuss potential vulnerabilities, explore best practices, and develop measures to ensure critical data is safe and secure. This step is necessary because it guarantees that we are all in the loop and know what to do to improve our security over time. – John Turner, Seed Broad LLC
10. Change your team’s mindset about using technology
In my experience, employees tend to think of company-provided technology as “their” laptop. Sure, they know it’s not their property, but over time they begin to treat it as such—stickers on laptops, tech gadgets left in unlocked cars, and so on, showing a lot of initial trust. , while it is important to treat everyone as an adult, it is also wise to be students of human nature. I say all that simply to lay the groundwork for company-wide policymaking. Everyone must be clear that they have the security of the company’s technology in using acceptable technology. For example, I asked all employees to enable remote wipe on their laptops. That way, if a laptop is lost or stolen, we can protect our customers by deleting their information before it falls into the wrong hands. – John Hall, Calendar
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