Hackers target businesses both big and small every day, looking for anything from their customer data to their private account records. In our interconnected age a robust security network is essential. Looking back over the past year can help pinpoint areas your business should be looking to strengthen.
Password Consolidation
Passwords are still the gateway into your company and just like a physical gate, your business is only as strong as its weakest section. Sixty three percent of data breaches involve weak, default or stolen passwords, according to Verizon’s 2016 breach report. Three, one of Britain’s largest mobile operators, revealed a major data breach in 2016 that could put millions of its customers at risk.
According to the Telegraph, hackers accessed Three’s customer upgrade database by using an employee’s login details. To counteract any unwanted access enforce a strong consolidated password policy with no password overlooked, or eliminate passwords where possible.
Multi-factor Authentication
Implementing multi-factor authentication, including third parties and a private network that adapts to user behavior, is widely acknowledged as one of the most effective measures to prevent threat actors from gaining access to the network. This requires presenting several pieces of evidence to authenticate your access, typically a piece of knowledge, a description of a possession and something inherent to the individual’s job.
Tailoring your Security Privileges
Tailoring access to individuals can be time consuming but it is immensely rewarding. Role-based-access and just-in-time privilege approval approaches protect high-value accounts. Just-in-time permissions expire after a specified time period so that a malicious user can’t steal the access.
Govern privileged sessions
Logging and monitoring of all privileged user commands makes investigating the root cause much simpler.
Segmentation
If your firewalls are breached, or a password is stolen, then ensuring your internal network is properly segmented could save your sensitive data. Network segmentation, isolation of highly-sensitive data and encryption of data at rest and in motion provide strong protection from malicious insiders and persistent hackers once inside the firewall.
Establishing these security boundaries for new projects can be difficult, something discovered this year by children’s product retailer Kiddicare who exposed real customer data when testing a new website. The data of up to 800,000 people was freely exposed because they did not begin with a security plan that fenced off the sensitive data while their website was under construction.
Conclusion
Implementing these five key procedures requires a holistic view of your entire company, which could prove an educational experience. Understanding your weakest areas and re-forging them into ironclad defences will not only make your business safer but smarter too.
To make sure your business is safe from security breaches, call our team on 01462 417070, or email info@konnetix.com
