In the cybersecurity world, an insider threat is an individual or business partner who uses company data inappropriately. Today's companies must take proactive steps to prevent insider threats, which is why we put together some tips and tricks.

#1 Educate

You must teach your team to recognize personally identifiable information (PII) and understand the financial implications of a breach. Each employee needs to grasp the risks associated with violating specific state or federal regulations regarding data privacy and security. For example, when a celebrity is admitted to the hospital, employees may be tempted to sneak a peek at their medical records. As innocent as that may seem, it could result in a hefty HIPAA fine.

#2 Deter

You must put easy-to-understand policies in place to prevent an insider from breaching company data. And those policies must be strictly enforced. In fact, almost every regulatory framework pertaining to data security requires that these policies are published where they can be easily found and that you present them in company-wide meetings. In some case, you may be forced to put a person in charge of holding everyone in the company accountable to following the policies.

#3 Detect

Businesses must have systems in place to identify data breaches and their sources as quickly as possible. You should be able to see any time someone accessed PII. This speeds up the breach response time by revealing when unauthorized personnel viewed something they shouldn't have. It's significantly easier to stem the spread of a breach with an effective audit trail in place.

#4 Investigate

When a privacy or security breach is detected, certain actions must be taken to limit the damages. For example, after the cause of a breach has been identified, your team should create new policies and procedures to ensure it can't happen a second time. In the case of an insider threat, that might mean revoking data access privileges to a department that never actually needed them.

#5 Train

Since IT systems are constantly evolving and easy to accidentally bypass, your employees must undergo regular data security training. A one-day seminar is a great start, but incorporating short, weekly reminders or activities will go a long way toward keeping everything fresh in their minds. Consider using a variety of media, such as emails, break-room posters, and even face-to-face interviews.

Is your company's data secure from insider threats? Call us today for a quick chat with one of our experts for more information.

The post Cybersecurity: How to defend against insider threats appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

One step in the network security cycle you should never skip is security audit — doing so puts your business at risk of cyberattacks and data loss. Read on to understand how security audits can make or break your system integrity.

Auditing and the security strategy

Audits are necessary to maintain system integrity and uphold quality. These system checks help identify security gaps and guarantee business stakeholders that the company is doing everything in its power to ensure that all of its information is uncompromised.

The three key procedures of an audit are assess, assign, and audit. Having a methodical way of auditing helps you avoid missing important details. It is also crucial that each stage is treated with the same level of importance to ensure thorough and comprehensive auditing.

During the assessment phase, have your IT partner look at the security system you have in place. All of your business computers and servers need to be checked, as well as every program and every user. Doing an assessment should give you an overview of how secure your business currently is, along with any weak points that need to be improved.
After the assessment, you may begin assigning solutions and solution providers. Ask your IT provider about solutions they can provide for each of your network/system gaps. And for issues that they can’t handle (perhaps because certain machines and software are highly specialized), ask your IT provider for their whitelist of partners.

Finally, you conclude your audit cycle with an “audit” — one last look-around before releasing the system back into the wild. Make sure that installations, patches, and upgrades are integrated properly and working seamlessly. For future reference, you’ll also want to take down notes just in case you need information about software and hardware improvements done during this audit cycle.

What exactly should be audited?

When conducting an audit, there are three factors you should focus on:

The state of your security – Security — especially digital security — is never at an impasse, and it is always in flux. Why? Because according to the Clark School at the University of Maryland, hackers attack every 39 seconds. And that’s not even accounting for other cyberattacks such as phishing, ransomware, and malware. This means that system security has shorter and shorter expiration dates nowadays, which makes audits all the more crucial to accomplishing your security strategy.

The changes made – The key to having long-term data integrity is a continuity plan — and not just one that addresses severe business disruptions such as those caused by calamity or disaster. A true continuity plan tries to address every conceivable risk realistically, especially those that can trip up business operations, such as cyberattacks. This can only be possible if you know what kind of hardware and software comprise your system, as well as their respective updates and improvements.

Who has access to what – Data systems — even proprietary ones — should allow administrators some control over who sees what. Total accessibility is a very dangerous prospect, especially since business nowadays is increasingly hinged on internet presence. An audit will let you check on user access so that you can make necessary adjustments to protect your data.

If you are looking for help in developing a security strategy for your business, contact us today to see how our managed solutions can help.

The post Don’t skip security audits for your business appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..