Businesses across the nation are taking the necessary steps to protect their employees and their customers in uncertain times. One of the most obvious steps is to have people work from home. It is one of the safest steps they can take, but it also expands the opportunities for fraudsters to steal businesses’ confidential data, funds and trade secrets. In their quest to protect their employees and customers and protect company operations cybersecurity may not be first and foremost on their mind.
What are some of the exposures?
- Ransomware attacks
- Phishing attacks (social engineering fraud)
- Fraudulent funds transfers
- Supply chain interruptions
- Invoice manipulation
- Cyber scams
- Network spread-more network access points with employees working from home
- Having outdated security software
- Outdated firewall protections
- Outdated anti-virus software
- Not using encryption software to protect sensitive data through transmission
- Not using two-factor authentication
What Are Some Steps A Business Can Take to Protect Itself From Cyber Exposures?
- Update to the latest firewall protection in your system
- Update to the latest antivirus software for your system
- Require multi-factor authentication
- Encrypt data at rest on network servers
- Restrict employees to only the network data they need to perform their job
- Setup a VPN
- Install email scanners
- If employees use their own laptops require network data to be segregated
- Separate encrypted data from user data on your network
- Do not have a “universal pass code” for all employees to use to access data
- Discourage employees from clicking on unfamiliar hyperlinks
- If an email sounds suspicious, looks suspicious or is out of the ordinary it probably is. Delete it or forward to their supervisor of IT department
There are two crises going on right now due to COVID-19. The most important one is protecting the health and well being of your employees and customers. The second is being diligent to ensure your business is not shut down or vulnerable to expanded attacks by fraudsters to capitalize on weaknesses in your network.
[calltoaction bg_color=”#e5e5e5″ border_width=”3″ border_color=”#007046″ button=”yes” buttonlabel=”Connect Today” link=”mailto: emcguire@fbinsure.com” buttoncolor=”orange” buttonsize=”medium” buttonstyle=”simple” button_position=”center” target_blank=”yes” text_position=”center” text_color=”#404140″] Reach out to our Cyber Liability Practice Expert, Ed McGuire to discuss how to insure your business against these vulnerabilities. [/calltoaction]
