Cybersecurity threats are growing every day, and not a day passes when there is not a story about some kind of breach or data theft in the news. Those of us who own or manage medium businesses know that cybersecurity is crucial and that we should be paying close attention to these issues. Securing your business is not as difficult as many experts make it out to be. Together, we can implement strong security measures.

System and application hardening

System and application hardening are a way to lock down the operating system and application before their goes into production. Along with the list of procedures to follow to improve system or application security the hardening guides can reference vendor best practices, and industry standard security requirements

Implement application whitelisting

Application whitelisting is the practice of specifying an index of approved software applications or executable files that are permitted to be present and active on a computer system. The goal of whitelisting is to protect computers and networks from potentially harmful applications.

Restrict access to data

Regularly evaluate your system and ensure that your staff only have access to the data and networks that they actually require to perform their job. The less people you have exposed to sensitive data, the less likely that such data is going to be compromised (either intentionally or accidentally).

Regularly evaluate permissions

Make sure to conduct regular evaluations of who has permission to different systems in your network. Due to staff turnover or evolving roles, permissions should be periodically updated and reviewed.

Control removable storage

Control removable storage media and connected devices, which can easily carry or transmit malware to an unsuspecting or unprepared computer. Do not allow anyone to just bring in their thumb drives. Even disable drives so employees are not able to put information on removable media.

Protect mobile devices

Mobile devices can create significant security and management challenges, especially if they hold confidential information or can access the corporate network. Password-protect mobile devices, encrypt their data, and install security applications to prevent hackers from stealing information while the phone is on public networks.

VLANs

A virtual local area network (VLAN) is a group of devices that appear to be on the same local network despite their physical distribution. This drastically improves the security of such a network. VLANs also allow you to virtually segment devices or departments on different networks to improve security (network segmentation).

VPN

Using a virtual private network (VPN) is a simple but thoroughly reliable security measure. It protects your network from being exposed to the network, or other unsafe networks, by encrypting your information and providing a secure network of communication.

Secure Wi-Fi networks

Wireless security is the prevention of unauthorized access or damage to computers or data using wireless networks, which include Wi-Fi networks. If you have a Wi-Fi network for your workplace, make sure it is secure, encrypted, and hidden.

Network monitoring

With a cyber security monitoring system implemented, you will be able to consistently monitor business critical systems and data. With this you will be able to know straight away if there is any suspicious activity or data breach.

Conduct vulnerability scans

Performing vulnerability scans of your entire infrastructure will help to highlight any security weaknesses in your systems.