There are several different ways your current employees can knowingly or inadvertently bypass your security; while all can wreak havoc with your systems and cause irrevocable damage, those with malicious intent in mind are by far the worst. Understanding the different levels of threat and what may motivate these insiders can help you create strategies that truly mitigate your risk.
At least once a year, you can find a report on the web about what the most common passwords are based upon leaked data. Think of these lists as the worst passwords you can ever use. Typically, 123456 and password top the list. Coming up the path of popularity are passwords 123456 and 123456789, as people are required to enter in longer passwords. Need a mix of letters and numbers? You might want to avoid abc123 and trustno1, among many others. Nowadays, a password security alone isn’t sufficient to lock anything down. How best can you secure your system to keep the bad guys out?
Did you know that your data could be compromised at this moment, even if none of your security measures have sounded an alarm? As companies across the nation reported data breaches throughout the past few years, one commonality was noted: in most breaches, the data was compromised for weeks or even months before anyone noticed. When you couple that fact with some of the expectations for data security in the coming years, you realize that both internal and external security in most organizations has to evolve if it’s going to do any good.
Every few years a new encryption algorithm is released by an IT solutions provider to ensure your data stays safe. Hardware keeps improving, making older encryption algorithms easier to break. Thus, new encryption mechanisms are needed to keep your systems and data safe.
Once upon a time, it was safe to turn your computer on. Nowadays, a month, week, or even day doesn’t go by where you hear about the latest system attack and zero-day exploit used to install malware and expose data from somewhere across the globe. Some news reports even say the NSA is buying these exploits to take advantage of them before they’re patched to gain access and potentially disrupt computer systems. If the US government is doing it to attack their enemy, you can be sure other governments and organized crime are doing the same to potentially get into your systems. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link and the least protected computer system will be found and exploited.
Managing internal access to data and software has always been a challenge for technical and security departments. In the past, security was often managed physically; workers couldn’t access what they couldn’t physically get to. Today, cloud computing and the need for employees of all levels to access data from disparate locations makes physical controls outdated in most industries. Instead, organizations are turning to a variety of cloud, software, and hardware-based security solutions, some of which are less effective than others.
Is your business utilizing data encryption in your security strategy? The process of changing information to make it unreadable to those except authorized users can help your company securely protect data and safeguard it from potential threats. [click to tweet] Businesses use data encryption to protect personal information, customer data, trade secrets, employee files, tax information, credit card numbers and more. This benefits the network is breached. Read on to learn about the benefits of data encryption.
Not long ago, many organizations were reluctant to adopt cloud technologies mostly due to concerns about security and loss of data control. After all, the traditional approach to network security is heavily focused on protecting the network perimeter. How do you do that when the Internet is being used to interact with applications, services, and data? It’s no surprise that enterprises were a bit unsettled with the idea of sharing the responsibility of security and privacy with cloud providers.
The technology industry is rapidly evolving, changing and growing; it’s important to stay up to date on current trends, and even brush up on skills well in advance of needing them, so you are prepared when emerging and disruptive technologies sweep the industry. Read on for three information security trends to be aware of in 2016 so your company can best prepare against potential hackers and cyber criminals.
Are you concerned about the security of your business’ data in the cloud? You aren’t alone. While cloud computing offers many advantages (several of which include security benefits,) it also can be seen as a gray area for IT pros who are seeking full and secure control of their data. Read on for four data security tips for your business' information in the cloud.
