How to protect your business ? - The recommendations
Data backup
Data backup is essential within an businesses. It covers:
- Management and accounting data.
- Configuration of the communication system (mails, phone..etc).
- Data related to your industry or field of operation.
To prevent data loss, you should:
- Create a backup plan with development of a backup cycle (weekly, monthly ...)
- Outsource backups.
==Malwares=
The presence of malware is a veritable scourge for any business.
These programs can be introduced in various ways: consulting websites, email, personal data ... Malicious code can not currently be blocked at 100%.
The risks are substantial:
- information system rendered unusable;
- financial impact, loss of revenue;
- remediation costs and relocation of all systems;
- negative impact on the image of the company: with suppliers, customers, bank ...
To avoid the occurence of malware infection, you should:
- A performant and up-to-date firewall and anti-virus.
- Take alerts in considerations
- Change passwords on a regular basis.
Botnets
Botnets are malicious programs that can cripple a server but also steal banking data. This type of attack can for example disable any e-commerce platform or block access to your inbox.
You should:
- activate the automatic update of the entire IT infrastructure.
- use an anti-virus and firewall.
- inform the employees about the risks.
- make sure that the all software are up-to-date.
Precautions to be taken when receiving emails
The X Force report from IBM indicated the increase (345%) of malicious links. And the favorite way for the dissemination of these infected links is the email.
Upon the reception of your email, here's a list of simple actions to be taken:
Pay attention to the name of the sender
A sender's name can be easily falsified. However, here are some clues to identity of your correspondent:
- the message has an unusual attachment (example : a business partner sending you a video or music file).
- the message contains links (free gifts , promos..etc)
- the format of the mail is not usual.
==Requests for confidential information===
If your partner asks you to provide personal information such as passwords, bank details, PIN codes, it may be a phishing attempt. Phishing is to assume the identity of a trusted third party (bank, e-tailer) to retrieve and use confidential information.
Suspicious attachments
Any type of attachments may contain a virus or spyware. A solution to fight against these attacks is to check frequently update your antivirus and control your workstations (check for suspicious processes):*as slow browsing or a blank screen.
- Do not click on systematically on links.
If you receive an email containing a link, a trick is to move the mouse over the link to check if it redirects to the right address.
Securing your messaging software
First thing to do: enable the automatic update feature.
- Disable the automatic preview emails.
- Block automatic execution of ActiveX contents, plugins and downloads.
- Use a text editor to open your attachments.
See also
Knowledge communities.
Original article published by
CommentCaMarche. Translated by
jad05.
