For the majority of us, our Christmas-New Year holiday time will soon be ending. Regardless of whether we feel refreshed or still wish we still away – it is a brand new year and a great time to make those cyber security resolutions! After all, with cyber attacks on the rise all of the world and Australian SMEs feeling the pinch – now is a superb time to take advantage of actually resolving to take care of our digital life at home and in the workplace.
What’s My Password Again?
As part of the side effects of having holidays, recent research from the UK proved that holiday season is a key time where we actually do forget our passwords! While it is always easy to recover our passwords online, we have to be careful with what we are replacing our password with. 77% of people who do forget their passwords after the holidays choose easier ones to replace their former passwords in order to avoid a memory lapse. While it may be easier for you to remember, the password is less secure and therefore increases the chance of IT security loopholes at work and at home.
Unfortunately many offices do have a notepad or sticky note with passwords written down. If your office is one of those ones, you must remove these as it is the easiest way to steal your information through corporate espionage or even a burglar going through your office and discovers your passwords. It’s just like they’ve won the lotto ticket to take as much as they want with your permission!
Did You Travel with Your Devices?
Some people are on call or choose to work during the holidays. Are you one of those people who went on holidays and brought your work laptop or mobile devices along? Due to home and even hotel or cafe WiFi networks being less secure than ones at work, cybercriminals can connect with these computing devices – both with and without your knowledge – such as pretending that you have a computer software program update. While you may think nothing of the update, it could potentially be something more malicious in disguise.
Even if you have been careful while using public WiFi, it does not mean that something will happen. However if your or your team have brought your devices on holidays that do access the computer network you should review it to ensure that there is an unpleasant surprise that you have brought back to the office with you.
If you are not sure how to access public WiFi safely, please read this article. It could make all the difference.
Best Cyber Security Practices Training
An ideal time to conduct employee training or update workers about the latest cybersecurity threats is after holiday season. Like forgetting your password, refresher or even first time training will mean that both the boss and employees will keep up to date with how to best protect the workplace especially if they may not be incredibly tech savvy.
Are Your IT Solutions Up To Date?
While it may be costly or time consuming to keep up to date with the latest software patches and hardware updates, you should make time to make sure that all security loopholes are closed. That includes checking to make sure that all ports are encrypted, all your antivirus software is updated and then scanning your whole computer and mobile devices to ensure that there are no viruses, and more.
What’s Your Plan?
Many SMEs do not have a cybersecurity plan just in case something goes bad. While you may think that cybercriminals only target the big guys, it is like saying that criminals only steal from million dollar mansions and not from more humble homes. Cybercrime can happen to anyone – so we all need a plan of action just in case something does happen.
If you do not have an IT company or are not sure about any of the above items that you should think about while making your new year’s cyber security resolutions, please contact BankVault and we will try to assist you.
