A guide to implementing proactive cybersecurity measures

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Running a business has always been difficult, but the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape has only added to the difficulty. Newer, more complex cyberthreats emerge every day, putting firms at risk of substantial data, productivity, and financial losses. Putting in place a proactive cybersecurity strategy is a good method to keep these dangers at bay and keep operations running smoothly. This is how you do it.

What is proactive cybersecurity?

Traditional cybersecurity is reactive: your IT team or managed IT services provider (MSP) will be notified of a cyberattack after it has occurred, and they will be left to mitigate the consequences. Proactive cybersecurity, on the other hand, is proactive in nature; it considers all potential threats and strives to detect vulnerabilities so that they can be remedied before they become larger, downtime-inducing problems.

Many businesses have implemented proactive as well as reactive cybersecurity measures, and are now reaping the benefits, such as the capacity to keep one step ahead of cyberthreats and increased data compliance.

How to implement proactive cybersecurity

In adopting a proactive approach to cybersecurity in your organization, you must follow these steps:

  1. Understand the threats you’re facing
    Before you can work toward preventing cyberattacks, you must know exactly what you’re up against. Seek the help of your in-house IT staff or MSP in identifying the types of attacks that are most common in your industry. 
  2. Reevaluate what it is you’re protecting
    Once you have a list of the biggest threats to your organisation, you need to take stock of how each can damage the various components of your network. Map out every company device that connect to the internet, what type of data they have access to (regulated, mission-critical, low-importance, etc.) and what services are currently protecting those devices.
  3. Choose proactive cybersecurity measures to put in place
    Depending on the risks and assets uncovered in steps 1 and 2, your IT team or MSP ay recommend any of the following measures:
Cyber Security Passwords Online Shopping Hacker Hacking Phishing Email Scams

Train everyone from the receptionist to the CEO about effective security practices such as password management, proper mobile device usage, and spam awareness.

Protect your data and systems against the latest and most menacing malware.

Minimize the chances of leaving a backdoor to your network open.

Blacklist dangerous and inappropriate sites for anyone on your network. 

Scrutinize everything trying to sneak its way in through the borders of your network. 

Limit users’ access only to the data they need to fulfill their tasks. 

Rank data according to sensitivity and build micro-permiters around high-value datasets. 

Make data stored in computers and portable devices unreadable so that if these machines are stolen, the files they have inside remain secure. 

Make data transmitted across secured connections unreadable so that intercepting it would become futile.

Prevent unauthorised access to accounts by using strong passwords, multi-factor authentication and auto screen locks and logouts for idle users.

Identify suspicious user and software behaviours such as employees accessing files outside their departments

If you’re looking to implement a proactive cybersecurity strategy to protect your business’s critical systems, give our professionals a call today. We’ll assess your needs and recommend the best, most effective solutions to address them.