Over time there is an increase of considerable numbers in the internet users, which benefited the businesses, but also increased the security concerns of the companies. Recent research indicates that no matter the size of your business or what type of business you’re running, or what your business location is, every business is at a huge risk of a cyber-attack right now. We research some figures showing that the cyber-crimes have affected around 3.8 million people in just UAE in one year and cost over a million dollars to the country. Could you imagine that? During our research, we came up with the MITRE ATT&CK Framework, which is basically a globally accessible knowledge of adversary techniques to save businesses from cyber threats.
By following some basic five steps, any business can get protection against the cyber-attacks. So let’s get straight to the list.
1. Update the software and hardware too-
One of the most critical steps for protecting your business from cyber-threats is updating the latest versions of security software. It would be best if you use the latest antivirus software to configure the network’s security properly. While giving so much attention to acquiring the latest security software, most companies forget about their hardware systems, so they become the victims of a cyber-attack. For protecting the security of the company, hardware plays a significant role too. Updated hardware can help your company prevent any cyber-attack as it provides excellent support to the security software.
2. Assess Risks and Weaknesses–
One of the best ways to discover if there are any security risks and loopholes in your company’s infrastructure is to hire an external security consultant to test your systems that have external access. That includes drives, folder, and websites, etc. This may sound like an expense, but it’s actually a valuable and very effective service. There are tools like MITRE ATT&CK Framework that can assist you with its knowledge-specific threat models and methodologies in the private sector, government, and cybersecurity products. The objective is to focus on the cost of losing your data instead of paying for a highly beneficial assessment. Do all of this now, because tomorrow may be too late.
3. Encourage a Security-Centered Culture-
The most common reasons for a data breach are usually employees working in the company as most of them are unable to recognize an external security threat even after having a good understanding of their daily actions. Due to the lack of awareness, they fail to protect the company from an upcoming cyber-attack. So you need to train your employees and encourage them to report as soon as possible when they notice any suspicious activity. This is one of the best methods to prevent a cyber-attack as it doesn’t cost a penny to the business, yet it is beneficial. Cyber-alert employees can be your best front-line protection against any cyber threats.
4. Manage Passwords Properly-
Passwords are the key to security attacks. It can either protect you or cause your company a major cyber-attack if not appropriately handled. Make sure that all the passwords are unique and strong. Don’t use the same password for all the systems and accounts. You can create strong passwords using letters, numbers, symbols, and some special characters mandatory for the passwords. Also, train your staff not to share the passwords and change all the passwords every few months.
5. Back-Up all Data Daily-
Last but not least, make it part of the company policy to back up all the data daily. It will protect you against any ransomware attacks. You can back up all the data on the cloud, so if the company faces any cyber-attack, all the important data can be saved. You can install a backup program in the systems that automatically copies all the files to any external storage or cloud from where you can restore all of the data when needed.
Get started with the MITRE ATT&CK Framework. It covers everything from the knowledge of cyber threats to the solutions of cybersecurity.