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90% of Americans are using their personal devices for work, risking their workplace by accidentally opening access to their company data. Keeping your company and employees safe from cyber-attacks can be done by just following these 5 simple rules.



Today, it’s become even more complicated for companies to prevent cybersecurity breaches. That’s why it’s important that businesses understand that each employee, intern and manager all play equal roles in protecting your private business data. A few examples worth mentioning include the Equifax breach which compromised the identity of millions of users and the Yahoo breach that affected essentially every single user of the service.

Here are 5 easy ways you can mitigate these risks and start protecting your employees both online and in the office.

To Start, Your Employees Need Refreshing.

With 90 percent of Americans using their personal devices for work, employees are constantly at risk of accidentally opening access to company data. For example, if an employee connects to unsecured Public Wi-Fi, their device immediately becomes susceptible to bad actors.

By reminding your employees of proper security practices and encouraging safe cyber hygiene, you can alleviate some of the risk associated with online browsing and remote connections to the network.

1. Educate Your Employees

The single most important way to keep your employees safe online is to educate them about cybersecurity. This requires more than just a single briefing, but instead, regular reminders of the real dangers of cybercrime and frequency of attacks on businesses. A simple “I have read and understood the terms and conditions” document isn’t enough.

Employee Training Employee training during the onboarding process is essential for protecting your business’s private data. You can test out Cyveillance which offers safety awareness computer-based training for your employees regardless of how large or small your business is. The company claims to successfully reduce the number of employees who click on malicious links by 50% after completing their training.

Staff and Managers are Employees Too Employees also include top management and staff positions. In fact, top managers are often popular targets due to their advanced access to sensitive information stored on servers. Additionally, higher positions often travel more frequently, conducting business on unsecured Wi-Fi networks and exposing their confidential data in plain text without encryption.

2. Teach Your Employees to Know What to Look For

Often, employees receive emails or other communication asking for sensitive information. These types of phishing attacks allow cybercriminals to request users to “log in”, allowing them to capture usernames, passwords and other personal information.

These same techniques can also be used to infect company computers with botnets, viruses and Trojans. Sage Singleton, safety expert for SafeWise, details, “Many malware scams happen from within and are accidentally caused by employees. Hold quarterly security seminars and continually remind employees to never open suspicious links that could cause malware. If an employee is emailed by someone asking for private information (like W2s, employee files, etc…) have that employee reach out to the HR department immediately. Employees should never give out personal information to anyone. Let HR handle that.”

Watch Out for Fake URLs

Many malicious sites will utilize unsecured URLs which will, at first glance, seem completely legitimate. These sites seem familiar, but the URL may contain small typos, unusually placed symbols, and other differences. These variations give you a clue that this in fact not the real site, but instead, a spoofed one aimed to obtain your personal information.

Be Aware of Social Engineering

Social media, blogs and links from unknown sources are often used to target unsuspecting individuals. While in the office, this can lead to serious data breaches as malware spreads throughout the network.

Secure Your Printer and Scanner

While employees may understand the importance of not opening suspicious emails, many have no idea that other Wi-Fi enabled devices such as printers are also susceptible to cyber attacks. These machines collect and store private data, which is why it is essential to consistently wipe the hard drives.

3. Use Different and Smarter Passwords on Accounts

The expectations for secure passwords have undoubtedly increased in recent years. Using common and frequent passwords have enabled hackers to access millions of accounts annually. Follow these guidelines to ensure safer, more secure passwords for your accounts:

Longer passwords are better

Do not save your password to your browser

Have different passwords for different accounts

Stay clear of numbers associated with personal details

4. Protect Customer Information

As your employee privacy is vitally important, the information obtained from your customers is equally sensitive. To ensure customer privacy, employees should store, protect and destroy information regarding customer names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers, personal opinions or credit card information.

“Unfortunately, 64 percent of small businesses are victims of internal employee theft. As such, it’s essential to perform routine safety checks to make sure your business is protected. Update inventory regularly, change passwords frequently, distribute the workload evenly, and check in with employees frequently to ensure your business is secured from the inside out,” says Singleton.

5. Install Security Software

Security software such as anti-viruses, anti-spyware, anti-spam filters, and firewalls all help keep your corporate data safe. However, these traditional security frameworks are outdated in our current digital world. To mitigate the risks businesses face online today, it is important to invest in an extra layer of security. Two of the most important include:

A Business VPN

With a cloud VPN , you and your employees can enjoy a bank-level encrypted Internet connection at all times, on any site– regardless of whether the site or network provides encryption or not. This aspect of a VPN can be invaluable to the safety and security of your company and your clients’ valuable data.

Software Defined Perimeter

Unlike traditional VPN technology which is costly, hardware-based and both difficult to install and manage, a Software-Defined Perimeter solution simply and securely connects employees to both cloud-based and internal network resources. With our Software Defined Perimeter Solution , you can move past legacy technology and transform secure network access for the modern and distributed workforce. With unique API integration and centralized cloud architecture, companies of all industries and sizes can utilize the cloud safely and securely.

DNS Filtering

As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Help your employees actively with a DNS Filtering that prevents them to access websites known to be dangerous.

OpenVPN Alternative

Perimeter81 offers a great OpenVPN alternative . Say hello to Immediate set-up , fast connection speed and grannular network auditing.

We hope you found this post helpful! Feel free to let us know if you have any questions and follow us on social media if you’d like to continue receiving all the latest business security news.