3 Ways to Increase Your Cybersecurity Posture
Every day, it seems there is another headline about a high-profile data breach, ransomware attack, or some other cyber-related incident. More often than not, bad actors are looking for two things: money and data. Whereas no one is 100% protected from attackers, there are three ways you can dramatically reduce risks and improve your organization’s cybersecurity posture.
Educate your staff (People)
According to the 2021 Verizon DBIR Executive Summary, 85% of data breaches involved a human element through attacks, such as phishing and email compromise. This means each user in your organization could be the biggest risk to unleash a threat by opening that malicious attachment or link. Staff training on how to detect an email from a “bad actor” should be a regular practice and NOT a one-time event. The result will be increased awareness, established beliefs, and transformed culture.
Have a Plan (Process)
As the saying goes, “failing to plan is planning to fail.” In the current age of an expanding threat landscape, it’s imperative that there is a Disaster Recovery and Incident Response Plan in place. Those should be developed through cross-departmental teams and simulated or practiced regularly. Just like fire and tornado drills, it’s imperative to not only have the written plans in place but to engage in simulations that execute dry runs of the disaster scenario (i.e. Ransomware).
Recover From the Disaster (Technology)
With your staff educated and your written plans in place, it’s mission-critical to adopt the right technologies to keep your data safe. Make sure you have an “offline” copy of your data that is air-gapped and disconnected from the network. Cloud backups are becoming more of the adopted solution for data backups as they are not located on-premises. Remember, if not designed properly, backup solutions are still susceptible to attacks from bad actors, leading to corruption of critical operations data.
So what does your cybersecurity strategy look like right now? Are you confident that your staff can spot a phishing email? Is your organization in the habit of simulating a cyber attack? What does your data backup plan look like? Being aware of your vulnerabilities is the first step in protecting the data of your students and staff. And while this may sound overwhelming for organizations of all shapes and sizes, Five Star’s team of experienced engineers knows how to make this process an accessible, easy win!
If you’d like to take the next step to increase your school’s cybersecurity posture, email fivestar@fivestartech.com with the subject line “Cybersecurity Posture” to schedule a complimentary consultation today.
Written by Nathan Davidson, Eddie Sasser, & Aaron Kovacich
Managed IT Services
Five Star Technology Solutions
