How to Mitigate the Risk of a Massive Data Breach

Your competitors and the regulatory environment are no longer the biggest technology risk for your company — malware and data breaches are the top threats for 2020.  

The first half of 2019 heralded a time of disastrous events for corporations, with 4.1 billion consumer records breached by hackers. What’s even more troubling for small to mid-size companies is that the majority of these breaches impacted fewer than 10,000 records— meaning there were thousands of reported breaches in smaller organizations. Data breaches may not even be on the radar for senior executives, making it challenging to gain access to critical funding that will help protect the organization.

Proactive Cybersecurity Practices Keep Your Company Safe

Merely performing software updates is a good start, but will not truly maintain the comprehensive 360-degree security that you need. Here are a few suggestions from the experts at ECW Computers:

• Invest in assertive antivirus and anti-malware software, ensuring that all updates are completed in a timely manner
• Encourage IT and operations teams to develop vigorous testing and user training policies — and enforce them across the organization
• Create a separate WiFi network to be used by contractors, visitors, clients, smart TVs and IoT devices — that doesn’t have access to your core network infrastructure
• Define a robust data and business application backup and disaster recovery strategy
• Document business continuity procedures, including a multi-tiered communications action plan
• Work with external IT specialists to perform regular audits of your network security
• Active monitoring by trained, well-qualified individuals helps give early notification of any inconsistencies or unusual access within your network
• Ensure that your vendors are following the same strict security guidelines enforced at your company

With almost 60% of small to mid-size organizations failing within 6 months after a cyberattack, it’s vital to keep your infrastructure security up-to-date.

Cybersecurity Challenges for Smaller Corporations

Maintaining a secure infrastructure while also keeping other projects moving forward is often more than a smaller IT department can handle. There is a growing trend towards outsourcing IT help desk support, servers, security software, telecommunications and more. This allows your internal teams to focus on innovation while leveraging the experience and brain trust of a much larger pool of technicians. Business users appreciate having resources dedicated to quickly resolving everyday problems, while advanced enterprise-scale security software and attentive monitoring reduce the possibility of a cyberattack.

Guarding your organization goes far beyond simply ensuring that patches are applied in a timely fashion. Without an aggressive cybersecurity strategy, there’s a strong possibility that your corporation will experience a devastating cybersecurity attack or expensive data breach. Counterbalance the growing power of hackers with solid support from the trusted professionals at ECW Computers, South Florida’s #1 IT support and services provider. Contact our experts at {phone} or schedule a free initial consultation online to see the value that a proactive approach to cybersecurity brings to your business.