Cyber Security – It’s Not Just for the Department of Homeland Security…
Submitted by: Richard Slobodien, President and CEO, Cygne Technologies
Cyber security is critical to businesses small, medium, large, and of course to individuals, because of the paramount need to protect information. The size of your business and the market you are in has no bearing on whether or not you will be attacked by malicious parties or even attacked unintentionally! Do you have an exploitable vulnerability that could lead to some kind of access? Constant scanning of the internet identifies potential targets, not specific industry searches. Even if you don’t have the data they are looking for, they may still want your resources for launching downstream attacks, botnet activity, or data storage.
Every year hackers get smarter and sneakier about how to infiltrate computers, steal vital personal/company information, and spread mischief. A few years ago, all you had to worry about was malware spread by e-mail attachments. These days, you have to worry about mysterious links showing up in your instant messages, weird messages from Facebook friends you’ve never heard of, malicious web sites downloading who knows what to your computer as soon as you visit them, and extortion by criminals who threaten damage once they have gained access.
Take a look and consider the events occurring all the time in our global economy:
- Security breaches are happening almost every day
- Reputation is the first thing to be impacted when a breach occurs
- States are reacting to public outcry by passing laws for more stringent and proactive security measures
- Stress increases on already stretched compliance resources
- The cost of recovering from a breach will be expensive
Whether it’s a lost laptop, hacked website, or theft by an employee, data security breaches are never pretty. It’s worst when YOU are the headline. The questions after a breach will be varied, but rest assured they will come quickly and without mercy:
- How do I know my medical records won’t be leaked to the public?
- Why would you tell me my credit card number is secure when every employee can access it?
- How could you have let this happen?
Constant vigilance and an appropriate cyber security plan for your business are absolutely key. Every employee is a member of your security team. As a Director of IT wisely reiterated to me just recently, “Protecting my company’s data and infrastructure is a critical part of everyone’s job here, and I remind people that this is one of their important roles.”
So in a time when every one of us is trying to cut expenses to survive in this economy, what is a businessperson to do to sustain trust as well as keep costs low? Is it possible to obtain a security level that proves to your customers that you value your relationships and can be trusted with their personal information? Yes!
A few critical elements:
- Have a documented security policy
- Establish the presence of someone to oversee the documented security policy
- Physical security: lock server rooms, prevent unauthorized access to information access points
- Determine password/authentication methods and rules and educate employees
- Encrypt sensitive data!
Questions or comments? Email secure@CygneTechnologies.com
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