1. Develop Security Roles for your organization – Decide who in your organization is responsible for developing, implementing, and enforcing the cybersecurity policy.
While you may choose and we highly suggest enlisting a MSP for the implementation of cybersecurity, you need a senior management personnel within the company who will be the point person and have the authority to make high-level decisions.
Document the plan every step of the way. Clearly lay out your goals, commitments, plans, and procedures.
2. Audit your current strategy – Take the time to look at policies you already have in place and see what modifications need to be made.
Look into compliancy regulations specific to your organization to make sure you are fully compliant.
Work with your cybersecurity team to locate gaps within your organizations current strategy and where your organization needs to be.
3. Regularly Educate Your Employees – Your security policies are only as good as your employee's knowledge and willingness to adhere to them.
Educate your employees on avoiding phishing schemes and use Phishing Testing software to regularly test their knowledge and train on weaknesses.
Require employees to update programs and apps and run security patches immediately.
Enroll your employees in a security awareness training program so they are aware of the threats that are prevalent and how to best avoid them
Set guidelines for how employees should react if they believe their accounts or devices were breached. Encourage prompt reaction to quickly address issues.
4. Develop and Enforce Password Policies – While it may seem like you are beating a dead horse, regularly encourage and enforce the usage of strong passwords to protect accounts.
Implement a password policy internally and make sure employees are using complex, random and long passwords
Force a password change schedule when possible
Use MFA whenever possible
Make sure employees safely store passwords and are not using spreadsheets or word documents.
5. Use Encryption Across Network and Devices – Encryption is key. It's the process that encodes your data in such a way that it is unreadable unless you have the right "key". Encryption should be applied to your wireless networks, hard drives, and files.
Emphasize the encryption of all workstation or devices that go online including mobile phones and tablets.
6. Utilize Antivirus and Malware Programs – Viruses, ransomware, keyloggers, botnets, and trojans oh my! The cyber world is filled with devious malicious programs. Make sure you have a security system in place that provides multiple layers of protection.
7. Practice the Principle of Least Privilege within your Organization – Look at who has access to what within your organization and regularly audit privileges of your employees to only grant access to what each teammate needs to perform their job on a day-to-day basis. Learn more about the POLP here.
8. Use Advanced Threat Protection – ATP is a cloud based email filtering service that helps protect your organization against unknown malware and viruses by providing robust zero-day protection that includes features to safeguard your organization from harmful links in real time.
9.Regularly Perform Vulnerability Scans – Vigilance is key in cybersecurity. Continuous scanning that is reviewed by your cybersecurity team is important to provide insight into vulnerabilities within your network and can pinpoint weak spots.
10. Have a Disaster Recovery Plan – Ensure you have a regular backup schedule and that your data is scored securely.
Make sure your cybersecurity team knows the steps to bring your system back online.
Consider getting cybersecurity insurance to protect your business and assets in case of a breach.
11. Utilize a SIEM to detect Intrusion – While defense is an important part of cybersecurity planning, detection has an important role as well. With criminals regularly outsmarting security defenses, having a system in place to quickly detect intrusion into your network and react to quickly mitigate the effects is very important.
At Mapletronics we understand that creating, enforcing, and utilizing a robust cybersecurity strategy is a complicated and sometimes overwhelming process. We highly recommend bringing in cybersecurity experts to help guide you through the process and manage the day-to-day details or your plans. Our team of cybersecurity experts at Mapletronics are here to help. Check out our managed cybersecurity offerings here.