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With all threats identified, it’s time to carry out a risk assessment to evaluate the likelihood of each identified threat occurring and the impact on the company’s most critical data.

No system is 100% impenetrable, meaning vulnerabilities to some degree will always appear and need to be dealt with – and some threats will be more dangerous than others. The crucial thing here is the prioritization of potential threats to tackle the most critical weaknesses first.

3. Utilize End-To-End Data Protection

Implementing end-to-end protection is an approach used to secure data from unauthorized access – preventing potential alterations or loss of data.

End-to-end protection is integral to any enterprise cybersecurity because it helps protect sensitive information, meet compliance requirements, prevent data breaches, and maintain business continuity.

End-to-end is really the last line of defense in a cybersecurity system. In the event of a data breach, the idea is that the encrypted data adds an extra layer of security such that the data is not readable.

4. Take Advantage of Your Enterprise Architecture

Having a comprehensive view of an organization: its structure, processes, and data flows allows for a seamless upgrade to any cybersecurity system.

Having this structure mapped out clearly can be utilized to identify and prioritize potential security threats. Incorporating security into the architecture of a company ensures that security is integrated into all aspects of the organization.

When implementing any new cybersecurity improvements, it’s critical to keep the entire architecture of the company in mind to guarantee seamless implementation.

5. Choose an Appropriate Identity and Access Management (IAM) Solution

IAM is a system designed to identify, authenticate and authorize. This enables the right employees and job roles in an organization to have access to the right tools they need to do their work at the right time.

This is best practice for creating a separation of duties and responsibilities that’s vital to enterprises in order to:

• Conform to regulatory compliance
• Reduce human error
• Streamline IT workflows
• Improve data security
• Improve data confidentiality
• Detect insider threats in real-time

6. Conduct Regular Cybersecurity Training

In a new world that relies so heavily on technology, it’s easy to forget about the basics – human input.

In fact, it’s reported that 95% of cybersecurity breaches are actually caused by human error, according to the world economic forum. A statistic far too staggering to ignore.

There’s no denying the importance of keeping your teams up to scratch with cybersecurity training. Be sure to check out our article on employee cybersecurity training for our round-up of tips to make your training more effective.

7. Implement Strong Password Policies

Implementing strong password policies is critical for any enterprise cybersecurity program.

The importance of having a strong password is often overlooked in organizations and left to the employees, hence the staggering statistic that 80% of data breaches are linked to a weak password.

To really appreciate the importance of a strong password, just take a look at how much longer it would take a hacker using brute force tactics to guess a password of 16 characters, using every keyboard symbol (47,000,000,000,000,000 years) versus just 4 numbers (0.3 milliseconds).

(Photo credit: University of South Wales)

We have an entire article on password best practices to cover this in more detail.

Have a Cohesive Incident Response Plan in Place

Clear steps to take in the event of a security breach or other cybersecurity incident is critical to any enterprise cybersecurity program.

An effective incident response plan will include

Defined roles: The responsibilities of team members in each department in the event of an incident

Evidence preserving: Including the procedure for collecting information such as logging system activity, preserving hard drives, and retaining relevant communications

Communication protocols: Reporting and updating stakeholders such as employees, customers, and regulatory authorities

Containment and mitigation procedures: The set of actions that will be taken to limit the impact of an incident such as isolating an infected system and disabling compromised accounts

Having a well-developed incident and response plan in place enables organizations to minimize the impact of a security breach by acting quickly and effectively when the time comes.

9. Work With a Reputable Managed Security Service Provider

Cybersecurity requirements are now so complex that they’ve often outgrown the expertise of even the most well-developed internal IT teams. In fact, Sophos found that 54% of companies state cyberattacks are too advanced for their IT teams to handle on their own.

It’s common practice for an organization to seek an outside service provider to help monitor and respond to threats.

Rediminds are a certified security implementation partner for the most reliable of those solutions, Okta and Transmit security. So, whether you’re looking for help with your fraud prevention or identity and access management solution, get in touch today and find out how Rediminds can help!

• High-security vaults that can only be opened at certain times of day by certain individuals
• Huge teams of security staff
• Well-thought-out contingency plans for when there is a physical threat
• Enterprise Cybersecurity Best Practices

Relatively speaking, defending digital assets against cyber criminals is a new form of security in comparison – physical money has been around for 100’s of years, the internet has only been around since 1983.

That’s why in this article, we’ll cover:

• What Is Enterprise Cybersecurity?
• Why It’s Important for Your Business
• Who Is Exceptionally Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks?
• Recent Examples of Cybersecurity Breaches

What Is Enterprise Cybersecurity?

Enterprise cybersecurity in its most simplistic form is “everything that protects a company’s digital information from falling into the wrong hands.”

This includes any data about the company, its employees, customers, or partners. Whether it be data that’s stored physically on-site, on the cloud or a combination of the two.

Why Is Enterprise Cybersecurity Important for Your Business?

As per Gartner’s 2022 study, 88% of companies now consider cybersecurity a business risk rather than an IT problem.

This is no surprise considering 96% of companies proved to be vulnerable to external attacks in a Positive Technology 2022 study.

Here are 5 reasons why cybersecurity is so important for enterprises:

1. Prevents data breaches
2. Slows down hackers
3. Protect customer data
4. Prevents reputation loss
5. Prevent financial loss

1. Prevent Data Breaches

Data breaches occur when sensitive, confidential, or protected data falls into the wrong hands.

This is usually the result of a hacker breaking into the company system, an inside employee maliciously gaining access to the data, or an employee unintentionally losing or exposing the data.

In fact, 95% of cybersecurity breaches are caused by human error. That’s why thorough and consistent employee cybersecurity training is highly critical to ensuring every member of your team is alert and equipped to spot cyber threats.

This, coupled with a well-executed identity and access management solution, ensures only the correct users have access to data and only when they need it, mitigating the risk of a data breach.

2. Slow Down Hackers

The goal of a hacker is to find a weakness in a system and exploit it – usually for their own financial gain.

As the old saying goes “you’re only as strong as your weakest link”.

A well-defined cybersecurity solution should of course include a proactive fraud detection and prevention solution to assess any weaknesses within the business systems in order to make them stronger. This in turn makes it more difficult for hackers to find and exploit them.

For example, just take a look at how much longer it would take a hacker using brute force tactics to guess a password of 16 characters, using every keyboard symbol (47,000,000,000,000,000 years) versus just four numbers (0.3 milliseconds).

Check out our full article on password best practices to ensure your password policies are up to scratch.

Creating an IAM strategy right through to execution and ongoing maintenance is no easy task.

If you’re looking for an implementation partner to support you in developing or refining the IAM strategy for your organization, visit our IAM solutions page to find out more about how RediMinds can support you.

Creating an IAM strategy right through to execution and ongoing maintenance is no easy task.

If you’re looking for an implementation partner to support you in developing or refining the IAM strategy for your organization, visit our IAM solutions page to find out more about how RediMinds can support you.

Employee training is just one area to improve your cybersecurity. Be sure to go check out our article on enterprise cybersecurity best practices for more areas to focus on.

What Training to Implement

Now we’ve covered some best practices to implement cybersecurity training within an organization, let’s go over some essentials for those training modules.

Security Updates

Outdated software can leave your business vulnerable to malware, viruses, and other security threats. Hackers take advantage of vulnerabilities created when devices are left out of date.

The importance of taking responsibility and keeping devices, software, and applications up to date should be expressed. Cybersecurity isn’t just for the IT team to take care of, it’s a culture that needs to be adopted, which means no waiting for IT to update individual workstations, employees should be doing this themselves.

Employees should be encouraged to take ownership of their cybersecurity in their day-to-day actions.

Strong Passwords

All it takes is one weak password to leave the door open for cybercriminals to gain access to company-wide data, including client and customer data.

80% of data breaches are linked to weak passwords which means it’s imperative to instill the importance of setting strong passwords in the workplace.

We have an entire article on password best practices that talks in detail about these eight factors:

1. Use long passwords: The longer the better
2. Never use personal information: No names, birthdays, or names of pets
3. Swap letters with punctuation: Keep passwords safe even if they’re verbally breached
4. Make deliberate spelling mistakes: Improve defenses against brute force attacks
5. Keep passwords secure: Writing them down on paper is a big no-no
6. Use unique passwords for different accounts: A breach to one account doesn’t mean a breach to all accounts
7. Use a password manager: To help keep a record of all different passwords and accounts
8. Use MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) where possible: Make unwanted access even more secure than just using a singular password

Using Public Wi-Fi Networks

With the new age of remote working upon us, it’s vital that employees are trained on the security risks of using public networks.

More and more employees are often working on the road, in cafes, restaurants, and hotels. Education on the risks of public Wi-Fi networks needs to be addressed with adequate training.

Public Wi-Fi networks are often unsecured, giving cybercriminals the opportunity to position themselves between the user and the connection point. Effectively giving criminals access to every mouse click, keystroke and webpage a user accesses.

Having explicit training on accessing sensitive information whilst on a public network is essential. While facilitating the use of a VPN that encrypts data for any remote workers should also be a strong consideration, particularly in companies handling sensitive information.

Secure Home Networks

As with accessing public networks, training should be implemented for employees using their home networks to demonstrate best practices for improving network security.

Home network improvements include:

• Plugging computers directly into a router, rather than the modem
• Updating the default router password to a stronger one
• Changing the name of the network – if criminals know the manufacturer of the router, they may know the vulnerabilities
• Using a VPN
• Ensuring router firmware is up to date

Phishing Scam Awareness

Phishing is the act of someone pretending to be a reputable business or individual to either directly coerce a user into revealing valuable information like their credit card details and passwords or plant malicious software on the user’s infrastructure.

Training on the different types of phishing scams, the risks of falling victim to phishing scams, and how to identify phishing scams are critical to any cybersecurity training.

Protecting Devices With a Lock Screen Password

This section of training seems like a bit of a no-brainer but all too often employees leave their desks with their computer screens unlocked, allowing anyone in the room to access their computers.

Lock screens expand further than just work computers and laptops, it includes the use of other work devices such as mobile phones and tablets.

If employees have information or company emails on their work or personal mobile phones, it should be mandatory for them to have a secure pin that locks their devices and training needs to reflect why this is so important.

A policy of ensuring your devices are locked at all times when not in use can be seen as rudimentary, but is a critical part of cybersecurity.

As with setting strong passwords, pins should be strong. No 1234, 1111, 0000, birthdays, or wedding anniversaries, and touchID or faceID is recommended whenever it’s available.

Social Engineering Tactics

Social engineering is the use of psychological manipulation to coerce the victim into giving up sensitive information or taking actions that compromise their security and the security of their company network.

Attackers may use a variety of tactics in an attempt to trick people, including posing as a trustworthy person or organization, creating a sense of urgency, exploiting emotions, or using personal information found online to gain the victim’s trust.

Training on social engineering should bring light to the importance of what is shared on social media by asking “Can this piece of social media content be used against me?”.

Ensuring that privacy settings are reviewed regularly is another best practice to cover in this area.

By bringing awareness to the common signs of social engineering such as emails from untrusted sources, offers that appear too good to be true, and if something in an email just doesn’t feel right, it empowers employees to think carefully before they act on any requests for information or action.

For more cybersecurity best practices, check out our 9 essential identity and access management tips.