Ten Ways to Combat Security Breaches in your Company

Hearing about security breaches or major cyber-attacks has become commonplace as one of the main problems for companies. A data breach can cost companies millions and seriously damage their reputation.

Companies cannot afford to be hindered by the consequences of a data breach. A good cybersecurity strategy will be the key to controlling the situation and protecting your brand. Below, we break down all the details and steps to achieve this.

How do data breaches happen?

A security breach can lead to a company’s data security breach when confidential or protected information is exposed to an unauthorized party. This usually occurs when a cybercriminal gains access to the corporate network and discloses classified or protected information.

The manner of infiltration can vary and include various methods of attack. Examples include:

• Research: Before an attack, hackers investigate the company’s infrastructure, network security, and access points. They may also analyze employees to identify potential weaknesses.
• Attack: Network attacks occur when attackers gain access to a company’s systems, applications, or infrastructure through specific vulnerabilities. They can be done through social engineering with phishing and vishing attempts.
• Data export: occurs when a hacker gains access to internal applications or networks and begins to extract confidential data and information. The consequences of this exposure or data theft are enormous.

According to an IBM report, the average total cost of a data breach is $3.86 million, in addition to costing time. It is estimated that it takes an average of 280 days to identify and contain a breach effectively.

No industry or company is immune to cyber-attacks, so it is essential to be vigilant and prepared before they occur.

Preventing Security Breaches: Best Practices

Due to the high cost of these data breaches, it is essential to invest to ensure that they do not happen. We have compiled a series of best practices to avoid these security breaches.

Training for employees

To ensure that your team is alert and does not fall into possible ‘traps,’ you need to train them on protecting data and preventing it from being compromised.

Taking courses on password protection, phishing detection, and reporting possible scams or other suspicious activities is one of the best ways to prevent leaks.

Create and update protocols

Maintaining a security protocol and constantly updating it is a cornerstone of protecting a company’s data.

Taking a proactive approach to enforcing data procedures will clarify your company’s expectations and show employees how seriously they need to take cybersecurity.

Developing a cyber breach response plan

Closely related to the previous point, companies must have a solid breach response plan. This will allow companies to be prepared so that both employees and the company understand the potential damages to which they could be exposed.

A good response plan will limit lost productivity and avoid negative publicity.

Limiting access to valuable data

In many instances, it is wiser to narrow down the group of employees who can view certain documents, limiting the group of people who might accidentally click on a harmful link.

It may seem like an undeniable solution, but as corporations move into the future, it will become more common to find records partitioned so that only those who really need access have it.

Update the software periodically

Firewalls, anti-virus or anti-spyware software, are essential tools for defending businesses against data breaches.

Working closely with a specialized security vendor to configure and automate these tools correctly is essential.

Encrypt data

If we have to send confidential data by e-mail, we must ensure that it is encrypted before sending it.

On the other hand, if we connect to a wifi network, we must ensure that we have a network where the public does not access our equipment. In fact, to ensure that the most sensitive data is kept safe, it is best not to use wifi networks.

Keep only what is needed

It is vital to keep track of the information stored on computers and, from time to time, to delete what is unnecessary. It is also essential to minimize the number of places where sensitive data is stored and to keep track of it.

Having a backup copy

Sometimes, data leaks can result in the malicious deletion of data. That’s where the importance of having a backup to recover data in case of loss quickly, server crash, or natural disaster comes in.

To this end, the IT team should have an automated remote backup system to further safeguard against the loss of essential data.

Securing portable devices

USB drives, cell phones, tablets, or laptops are susceptible to theft or loss. That is why it is important to create hard-to-guess passwords, install anti-theft applications, and take any security measures to ensure that only authorized users can access them.

Hire an expert

Frequently, managing a company is enough of a responsibility and time investment, and thinking about potential cybersecurity breaches may not be among the priorities.

The best option is to hire a security expert to execute it and help us protect against attacks or consult on best practices. Plain Concepts can help you with this.

Cybersecurity strategy

Suffering a data breach is one of the most stressful situations a company can endure, but it won’t be the end of it if you know how to act. Developing one should be a top priority if you don’t have an incident response and prevention plan.

At Plain Concepts, we help our clients close those gaps by using a team with extensive experience in penetration testing and auditing to identify security best practices and simplify processes.

We propose a Zero Trust approach to address new security challenges and enable the new normal of working from anywhere, with anyone, at any time.

You can contact our experts to present your case or sign up for our customized cybersecurity workshops. We look forward to hearing from you!