With modern-day technologies, businesses can be more productive and complex tasks take a fraction of the time they used to.
Although, with the good comes the evil. One simple data breach or loss can come at a substantial cost to your business, or even closure. With a data breach costing a business up to R36.5 million, is it worth the risk to have your data vulnerable?
Here are 10 signs that you are at risk of losing your data, and ultimately, your customers, says Stefan Sobota, Sales and Marketing, Elnatan Technologies.
1. You are using the same password for all your accounts
This is the one thing we are probably all most guilty of doing, using the same password for almost every account we have. Who has time to remember all these passwords, right? Once hackers have successfully compromised one of your passwords, they will be able to gain access to all of them. Don't compromise yourself and your company by doing things the lazy way. It is also of good practice to regularly change your passwords. Typically, when your password is compromised, it won't be used immediately and is sold in bulk to cyber criminal organisations. Changing your password regularly ensures this risk is minimal.
2. You download your e-mails to only one computer
E-mail is the lifeline of any business; now imagine if you lost it all. You might lose time, money and customers, or even lose your business as a result. Most people are unaware of the fact that with a normal POP3/IMAP e-mail account, your emails only exist on the device they download to. Now, if you lose your laptop or your hard drive fails, you have lost your e-mails and ultimately your business lifeline.
3. You don't update to the latest security patches immediately
Have you ever heard of a zero-day exploit? This means a software vulnerability was discovered as being exploited before the manufacturer could issue a patch, and software vendors put a huge amount of effort and money to fix these vulnerabilities. Now, when you don't update to their latest security patch, you are exposing your network to these sorts of crippling vulnerabilities.
4. You use 'free' products to save and share business-critical or confidential information
Who doesn't love free software or services? We all do. Well, the general rule of thumb is if you aren't paying with cash, you are paying with your information. It might seem temping to make use of the ever-enticing free programs and save a bit of money for that new car you have your eye on. But, is it worth the risk of exposing your company and customers' information? With the new POPI Act, you, as a business owner, can face huge fines or even jail time of up to 10 years if you do not take the necessary security and compliance precautions.
5. Your backups are stored in the same physical location as your infrastructure
Do you make backups of your critical business information? That's great, but where do you store your backups? If you are storing your backup on the same premises, you might as well have no backup at all. A natural disaster or crime-related event can leave you stranded without any backups at all. Did you know you don't have to physically leave your office to have your data backed up off-site?
6. You only do backups once a week
We often get asked how often a business should do backups. Once a day is even pushing the boundaries. The most ideal strategy is to back up every hour. Sound like a lot of work? Now you have to go and hire someone to run around your office every hour doing a "copy and paste". There are software solutions that backup your entire infrastructure every hour to multiple locations, without you even noticing.
7. You don't verify the sender before opening an attachment
You just got a statement from a service provider for something you don't remember purchasing, you open the statement in a panic and next thing you know your wallpaper has changed, all your files don't open, and someone is demanding Bitcoin from you. Congratulations, your business is now a ransomware statistic. There are sure-fire ways of educating and implementing systems for yourself and your business on avoiding this sort of ordeal.
8. You don't check the URL you are on
You receive an e-mail from what looks like a reputable Web site you are registered on; it asks you to confirm certain details or re-enter your credentials. You don't think twice about it and click on the hyperlink, which takes you to an exact replica Web site, where you proceed to enter your private credentials and then you get a "404" error. But, there wasn't an issue with the Web site, rather a clever tactic to get your credentials. If you are guilty of not having separate passwords for all your accounts, you have just given cyber criminals access to your business.
9. Unnecessary shared data on your network
It is particularly important for laptop users: you don't want to be sharing your entire file system to everyone around you at the airport or hotel, which is something I often see when I travel and check for open network shares. This is probably the least thought-of vulnerability.
10. You don't have full control of your data access
Your company has a server where all data is stored and accessed by your employees; modern technology is great, is it not? As convenient as it might be, if you don't have proper file permissions and auditing, you are slowly setting yourself up for a data breach. What does it all mean? Data breaches can occur when employees access privileged data and copy it onto a USB drive to take it home to work on. Now you have your private business information in an unsecured device.
Join Elnatan at its 'Future of IT' seminar and be prepared to be informed on the day-to-day risks and appropriate solutions that can be put into place to prevent IT disasters that can cripple your business. Information is the lifeline of your business, and Elnatan wants you to be protected and ready for the future landscape of IT.
The seminar will be hosted by Elnatan, in partnership with Microsoft South Africa and Mustek.
Find out more info: https://mailchi.mp/a55ac74f48d5/future_of_it.
Secure your seat http://qkt.io/xuQ6gD.
www.elnatan.co.za
sales@elnatanit.co.za
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