Corporate hacking stories are a staple of the news. Whether a small business or large international corporation, if you use the internet to do business, you are susceptible to having your network hacked, customers compromised, and your reputation ruined. How can you protect yourself from being a target of corporate hacking? Sometimes it is just about being proactive, and thinking smart.
Here are five strategies to defend against corporate hacking:
- First, Think Passwords: Are yours strong and unique? Do you change them often? Usually, a hacker steals passwords. By regularly changing yours, you make it harder for hackers to use stolen data. If the hacker doesn’t have access to stolen passwords, they will try combinations of easily guessable alternatives. There are ways to make cracking your passwords more difficult, including using spaces and characters in your password and increasing the length. And whenever possible, use Two-Factor Authentication, which adds another layer of security. (2017, Symantec)
- Second, Look at web URLs: Your information is not encrypted if you do not see an “s” after the “http.” Encryption is necessary for any business, especially when financial transactions, credit card information, or other critical data is shared.
- Third, Software Updates: Keep abreast of the updates pushed out by software providers. They are created to counter software flaws. Updates, also known as patches, are developed and pushed to users for upload. It is important to keep up with the updates in order to stay ahead of malicious hackers who could use the flaws to hijack your system.
- Fourth, Encrypt, Encrypt, Encrypt: Use road blocks to make it difficult for your corporate information to be collected and shared. Encrypting data is key to this process. Learn more about how to encrypt files in this post from Lifehacker.
- Fifth, Employ White Hat Hackers: Sometime you need to have someone on the inside working to find the cracks in your armor. Employing cyber security specialists, or training your existing employees in ethical hacking techniques, can wind up saving your company money in the long run. After all, cyber attacks can be incredibly expensive. Finding and patching the vulnerabilities yourself costs a lot less.
These are just a few of the many steps your company can take to make doing business more secure in the digital age and help build a defense against corporate hacking. One last tip: education. Stay ahead of trends by constantly educating your employees on best practices.
Why not learn more about cyber security and ethical hacking?
Check out the IEEE online course programs: Cyber Security for Today’s Environment and Hacking Your Company: Ethical Solutions to Defeat Cyber Attacks. These courses provide you and your employees with the foundation you need to put a sensible cyber security strategy in place for your organization.
Resources
Nixon, Sam. (2017, September 8). Are you an easy hacking target? Cybersecurity tips for small business. The Guardian.
Symantec. (2017). How to Choose a Secure Password. Norton Security Center.
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