Although there are countless ways to combat cyberattacks, in this article we are addressing 3 simple yet significant points that users can follow to protect their data.
Cyber attacks are on the rise. These threats come in all shapes and sizes, and no business or organization is immune to them.
A commonly asked question in cyber security is: what is an external attack surface? We’ll teach you what attack surfaces are, what you can do to reduce your exposure, and how to prepare for a worst-case scenario.
Cyber Attacks and Why You Should Worry
As technology becomes more and more prevalent in our lives, cyber security becomes an increasingly big concern. Data hacks can lead to information theft or identity theft, putting many different people in danger.
According to Cybersecurity Ventures, cybercrime will cost the global economy $6 trillion a year by 2021. Although there are countless ways to combat cyberattacks, people can do three main things to protect their data.
3 Ways to Prepare for Cyber Attacks
1. External Attack Surface Reduction
The external attack surface refers to any network interface where your device gives access to information or systems in its internal network. This is a term typically used in computer systems and network devices such as routers, servers, or personal computers.
The basic notion behind the external attack surface is that there are many points at which an attacker could potentially gain access to a target system. Therefore, cybersecurity experts recommend keeping your external attack surface as small as possible and minimizing what you share with others.
You can do this by reducing vulnerable servers and systems and firewalls, which would only allow the minimum flow of traffic to be used for business purposes. By sharing less information, there is also fewer data to steal and fewer systems to attack.
2. Security Awareness
The second way to prepare for cyberattacks is security awareness. Employees make up your corporate network, but what makes them risky from a cybersecurity standpoint is that they’re your most significant vulnerability. Think about it – who has more access to your data – you or someone in IT?
Therefore, it’s essential to educate your employees on maintaining their best practices while still getting their work done efficiently.
3. Assess Your Vulnerabilities
You must identify vulnerabilities in your organization and mitigate them through software patches, updated network configurations, etc.
To assess your organization’s cyber-security posture, you need a thorough vulnerability scan. Many vendors offer products that can do this and if you don’t plan on conducting it on your own, at least make sure that the vendor of your security solution can provide such a service.
The vulnerability scan should be comprehensive and include the following:
- Network scanning to detect IP addresses, services, and features
- Penetration testing to discover actual vulnerabilities in network configurations and IT infrastructure
- Configuration auditing to ensure that systems and applications are configured according to best practices
- Vulnerability assessment against flaws in your software such as web browsers, software services, etc.
Final Thoughts
Cyber attacks come with many risks, which is why it’s so crucial to be proactive about how you can prevent one at all costs. Implementing some of these measures now may save your business thousands of dollars down the line when there’s even more damage done than just lost files.
