The top five cybersecurity mistakes that leave your data at risk 

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8th September 2022

The top five cybersecurity mistakes that leave your data at risk

With the rise of cybercrime, cybersecurity is growing in importance, and companies can no longer afford to overlook it. The global damage of cybercrime has risen to an average of $11 million per minute, costing $190,000 each second. 60% of small and mid-sized companies with a data breach end up closing their doors within six months because they can’t afford the costs.  

Falling victim to a cyberattack can result in loss of business, downtime/productivity losses, reparation costs for customers who have stolen data, and more. Unfortunately, many of the most damaging breaches are due to common cybersecurity mistakes that companies and their employees make.  

Here are the most common missteps regarding basic IT security best practices.  

Not Implementing Muti-Factor Authentication (MFA)  

According to IBM Security, credit theft has become the top cause of data breaches worldwide. MFA reduces fraudulent sign-in attempts by a staggering 99.9%.  

Ignoring the Use of Shadow IT  

Shadow IT is the use of cloud applications by employees for business data that companies have not approved and may not even know about.  

Shadow IT use leaves companies at risk for several reasons:  

  • Companies may be using data in a non-secure application  
  • A company may not include Data in their backup strategies  
  • If the employee leaves, companies could lose the data
  • The app that employees are using might not meet company compliance requirements  

It’s essential to have cloud-use policies that outline the applications that employees can and cannot use.  

Thinking You’re Fine With Only an Antivirus Application  

No matter how small your business, a simple antivirus application is not enough to protect you. Many of today’s threats don’t use malicious files at all.  

Phishing emails will contain commands sent to legitimate PC systems that they might not flag as viruses or malware. Phishing also overwhelmingly uses links rather than file attachments to send users to malicious sites. Those links won’t get caught by simple antivirus solutions.  

You need to have a multi-layered strategy in place that includes things like:  

  • Next-gen anti-malware (uses AI and machine learning) 
  • Next-gen firewall 
  • Email filtering 
  • DNS filtering 
  • Automated application and cloud security policies 
  • Cloud access monitoring 

Not Having Device Management In Place  

The majority of companies around the world have had employees working remotely from home since the pandemic. However, device management for those remote employee devices and smartphones used for business is not a process that companies have consistently implemented.  

Putting a device management application in place, like Intune from Microsoft 365, can help manage this.  

Not Providing Adequate Training to Employees  

Human error accounts for An astonishing 95% of cybersecurity breaches.  

Employee IT security awareness training should be done throughout the year, not just annually or during an onboarding process.  

Some ways to infuse cybersecurity training into your company culture include:  

  • Short training videos  
  • IT security posters  
  • Webinars  
  • Team training sessions  
  • Cybersecurity tips in company newsletters 

HOW CAN MICROMINDER HELP YOU? 

If there are two things we feel we’re experts in, it’s Microsoft and Practices. With over three decades of experience in the dental sector, we understand what makes a successful practice and how our expertise and knowledge can help you deliver your IT strategy. So get in touch today for specialised support on migrating your operating systems.

For more information, you can call us today on 0208 799 6883 and speak with one of our Solution Consultants.

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