According to the 2017-18 EY Global Information Security Survey, 60 percent of surveyed organizations believe that careless or unaware employees are their top cyber attack risk exposure.

Cyber attacks include many types of attempted or successful breaches of computer security. These threats come in different forms, including phishing, viruses, Trojans, key logging, spyware and spam. Once hackers have gained access to the computer system, they can accomplish any of several malicious goals, typically stealing information or financial assets, corrupting data or causing operational disruption or shut-down.

Both third parties and insiders can use a variety of techniques to carry out cyber attacks. These techniques range from highly sophisticated efforts to electronically circumvent network security or overwhelm websites to more traditional intelligence gathering and social engineering aimed at gaining network access.

Cyber attacks can result directly from deliberate actions of hackers, or attacks can be unintentionally facilitated by employees—for example, if they click on a malicious link.

Listed below are four cyber security basics you can implement at your organization to immediately improve cyber security.

  1. Require employees to create strong passwords, insist that they change them every 45-90 days and prohibit them from using the same password twice.
  2. Implement specific protocol to protect sensitive data.
  3. Remind your employees to never connect to the company network over an unsecure, public Wi-Fi network.
  4. Train employees to recognize suspicious activity and encourage them to report such activities immediately.

In addition to taking these steps, most businesses should consider purchasing Cyber Insurance to help protect its business assets in the event of a cyber breach. Helpside’s sister company, A Plus Risk & Insurance works with several carriers that are experts in writing cyber insurance.  They can help your business identify what type of cyber insurance is right for your company. Contact A Plus Risk & Insurance today for a free, no-obligation quote for Cyber Insurance at (801) 443-1194.