The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) has recently issued an advice to all companies who want to keep themselves isolated from cyber attacks. CERT says that the best way to guard your business against hackers is to take the following precautions which will automatically boost your organization’s cyber security.
1.) Beware of emails- It’s better if you educate your staff members to never click on email attachments, files, links, pop-ups coming from unknown resources. It’s proven in studies carried out by security experts that the malware spread into a computer or network through email attachments. Ignore and delete all such emails which come with subject lines saying I’ve lost 30 lbs, the bank needs your details, attention as you’ve won a lottery, share your bank details and such.
2.) Limit your internet activity- Always keep your online activity safe and secure and avoid visiting sites which claim to offer free online softwares like PDF converters, MS Office software and such. Also, avoid free online photo editing sites and watch videos and listen to music only from authentic sites.
3.) Using a premium anti-virus software which is up to date and running it on a regular note makes a lot of difference. Also, you better customize it to run on a daily basis either on or off your office hours.
4.) Keep your financial data safe and secure on hard drives. Make sure that you keep that data in encrypted form. Also, keep a data backup of this data, so that, if in case, your hard drive gets infected with any virus such as Wanna cry, you can use that backed up data for business continuity.
5.) Hire an experienced IT specialist- either lease out some hours of an IT specialist or recruit them on permanent rolls. Because taking the help of an experienced professional in securing data, installing protective firewalls, and monitoring network performance always helps.
6.) Better to keep all workstations and computers isolated from the internet during off-hours and it is better to change the login credentials of those who have left your organization as soon as they quit.
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Note- US-CERT is responsible for protection the United States Critical Infrastructure from all possible physical and cyber attacks.
