From giant software corporations down to someone booting up a personal computer for the first time, the importance of cybersecurity cannot be emphasized enough. Most small or large business must operate at least partly in the digital sphere, leaving them vulnerable to cybersecurity risks. While the scope of your cybersecurity needs may vary – here are some basic cybersecurity tips that everyone should know.
Take Cybersecurity Tips Seriously
While most people understand that a corporation like Facebook or Google must take cybersecurity seriously, many underestimate how important it is for the ‘little guys.’ Over 80 percent of all businesses are clear targets for cyber attacks. Even scarier is that most of these attacks aren’t noticed until a year later on average and 60 percent of these businesses go under within 6 months. In fact, it could be argued that smaller businesses are the most vulnerable, being that hackers know they are often unprotected and the businesses have less capital on hand in the event of an expensive attack. No matter the situation, cybersecurity is serious business.
Update, Update, Update
Software updates are often seen as a chore that you can get around to whenever you have the time. In reality, keeping your system up-to-date is one of the more essential cybersecurity tips to follow. Updates add different functional patches to software as well as security updates to deter hackers. However, whenever a new update is released, hackers learn what is being fixed – meaning they know how to exploit those who have yet to update their software. Staying up to date is a simple and effective way to sidestep this problem.
Learn About Phishing
This is one of those cybersecurity tips that can be surprising to many. A lot of the time, cyber attacks don’t come in the form of complicated algorithms and actual hacking, but rather through exploiting people into divulging sensitive information. Phishing scams use fake links and appeals to emotion and authority in order to get you to give up passwords, usernames and credit card information.
Passwords
We can not stress the importance of strong, managed passwords. The way hackers obtain passwords without phishing scams typically involves programs that attempts to log in to one of your accounts by guessing your password over and over. When you have a password like ‘abcpassword,’ these programs are much more successful than when your password is a something like ‘aH8sx89s6kxLuU.’
Even with a strong password, it’s important to also change all of your passwords every six months. This keeps hackers off your trail, gives them less time to guess your password, as well as kicks out any hackers that already breached your system but remained undetected.
One of our cybersecurity tips to manage your passwords is to try using a password management program. These programs randomly generate, store, and rotate your passwords all under an encrypted system. This not only makes your life easier but is actually safer than keeping all of your passwords written down on paper or in an excel file to remember them.
The Best Protection
Protecting yourself from hackers and scammers is no simple task. Between all of the updates, backups, and maintenance – staying secure is often too much for someone to handle on their own. This is where business IT services come into the picture. Bay Computing and Consulting Services was founded with the simple goal of providing the best service and support for our customers.
Our vast array of services include everything from commercial computer networking to residential computer repairs. Our highly trained and knowledgeable staff has the knowledge and expertise to help you solve any computing issues in a quick and effective manner. To secure your business’ data, contact us today.