Cybersecurity should be a top priority for businesses of any size. With businesses relying on their IT network for critical processes and the day-to-day running of operations, a cyberattack would have devastating consequences.
In 2021, businesses suffered 50% more cyberattack attempts per week. Education and research, government and military and communications are among the top three industries targeted by cybercriminals.
Businesses need to assume that a cyberattack on their network will be inevitable. It is only with this mindset that they can build a robust strategy to counter potential threats and secure their network.
In this blog post, we’ll explore five ways that you can enhance your IT security.
1. MFA
Multi-factor authentication should be the first enhancement you should consider to harden your environment. A compromised admin password will give an attacker access to whatever data they want and could allow them to roam freely through your network. Admins within your organisation can be notified when there are suspicious login attempts so they can be investigated quickly and prevent further attempts.
MFA reduces the risk of identity compromise by as much as 99% over passwords alone.
2. End User Awareness Training
End users are the most common point of failure in any business and are most often the target for an attacker. Giving end users the knowledge to be vigilant and aware of cyber threats allows you to improve the human side of your information security.
This includes educating them about secure passwords, knowing how to spot phishing emails and having clear to follow security processes in place should they suspect they have been compromised.
3. Microsoft Secure Score
As more businesses adopt a Microsoft-centric IT platform, the power of the Secure Score portal becomes increasingly useful.
Microsoft Secure Score measures an organisation\’s security posture, with a higher number indicating more improvement actions taken. It can be found in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal.
Following the Secure Score recommendations can protect your organisation from threats. From a centralised dashboard in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, organisations can monitor and work on the security of their Microsoft 365 identities, apps, and devices.
4. Spam/Web Filtering
Allowing software to filter out obvious threats goes a long way to mitigating the risk of end-user compromise. Good spam and web filtering solutions assure you that phishing or pop-up-based attacks are dealt with at the source before they reach your network.
5. Third Party Certification
A certification from the British Standards Institute or CyberEssentials+ provides a formal framework for you as a business to follow to ensure that you are covering all bases with your approach to security. Often these are required by insurance providers or auditors and will provide peace of mind to senior leadership teams that you are doing all you can to protect your business from all security threats.
Read more: Managed’s commitment to seven years of service excellence
In conclusion
A managed service provider like Managed can help you prioritise security within your business and roll out these enhancements. With our ISO270001 accreditation, we are committed to delivering high-quality security solutions both internally and for our customers.
We are interested to know what your biggest security concern is. Let us know by voting in our LinkedIn Poll.
Get in touch with Managed for a free security discovery call to look at how we can improve your IT security posture.