Data is one of the most important aspects of this era. According to a teacher of mine, Data is the costliest thing in the world right now. Computer engineers are the heroes of this era. The availability of sensitive information has given rise to hackers and scammers.

Thanks to the rise of COVID-19, huge companies like Amazon and Google have advised its employees to work from home. This might seem great for those employees but there is a huge risk to the company they work for. Here are a few steps that can help prevent a breach.

 

• Educating Employees

Educating employees about cybersecurity risks and how to avoid security breaches is a good way to spread awareness. Companies must advise their employees to not share passwords of any sort, to always access secure websites and to learn about better ways to implement cybersecurity measures. Properly reviewing user access rights should be among these measures. When educating your employees on how to best review user access, you should include new practices of communication between teams, like timely turnover notifications, monthly access audits conducted by leaders, and updated reports to IT/systems administrators when changes need to occur.

• Usage of VPN

Since employees are not in an office, they would have to connect to the internet through Wi-Fi. Connecting to a public network opens up a lot of spaces for a hacker to hack into. Therefore, it would be advisable if employees could use VPN services.

• Using Anti-malware/Anti-virus Software

The title itself is self-explanatory. Usage of antivirus/anti-malware software certainly helps with screening malware and other viruses that can help hackers gain information or compromise certain operations that might result in losses.

• Hiring Ethical Hackers

This might seem like a weird suggestion, I definitely stand by it. Hiring professional penetration testers is a good way of knowing the weaknesses of the company’s defense against hackers. They deliberately hack into the company’s systems and give accurate information about where the weakness originates and also they give a solution for avoiding security breaches.

• Choosing Good Operating Systems

Choosing a good operating system is a good way to overcome hackers. A secure OS has a built-in firewall, VPN, built-in file encryption and password manager. Choosing OSs like Microsoft’s Windows(recent updates are preferred) certainly adds a level of security.

I hope this article helped you realize the importance of data and how to avoid potential security breaches that are harmful to a company.