Are Your Employees Your Biggest Cybersecurity Risk? The Top 4 Insider Threats Affecting Your Network

Are Your Employees Your Biggest Cybersecurity Risk? The Top 4 Insider Threats Affecting Your Network

 

Are your employees putting your network security at risk?

 

Even if your employees don’t intend on exposing your business to cybercriminals, they may still pose a threat.

 

With remote work gaining even more traction and decentralized workspaces becoming the new norm, businesses like yours are putting more focus on cybersecurity.

 

As a result, it’s important to have strategies in place to counter human errors and data breaches perpetrated by insiders.

 

Who’s An Insider & What Is An Insider Threat?

 

An insider is anyone who has access to your network. Insiders come in the form of employees, supply chain partners and company stakeholders.

 

When an insider exposes your network to cybercriminals, it’s considered an insider threat.

 

All employees, regardless of their designation or rank, can put your business in a vulnerable cybersecurity position.

 

Why Do Employees Pose a Risk to Businesses?

 

Did you know employees account for nearly a quarter of data breaches within a business?

 

According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2020, 23 percent of data breaches in an organization occurred because of human error.

 

As you can see, an untrained employee can compromise your business’ security in multiple ways. Keep reading to discover the top 4 common errors committed by employees.

 

The Top 4 Employee Threats To Your Network

 

1. Falling for Phishing Scams

 

Cybercriminals are using improved techniques, like spoofed emails and text messages, to succeed in their scams.

 

With the onset of COVID-19, hackers masqueraded as the World Health Organization (WHO) to trick people into clicking on malicious links and sharing sensitive information.

 

2. Poor Password Protection

 

If your employees reuse the same password or a set of passwords for multiple accounts (business and personal), this can be a dangerous habit that allows cybercriminals to crack your network security.

 

3. Misdelivery

 

Even slight carelessness can lead to an employee sending sensitive, business-critical information to a hacker. Such an act can cause lasting damage to your business.

 

4. Improper Patch Management

 

Often, employees can delay the deployment of a security patch sent to their device, which can make your IT security vulnerable.

 

The Bottom Line: Cybercriminals Are Getting Smarter, And You Need To Be Prepared

 

With cybercriminals upgrading their arsenal every day, you and your employees need to be ready to combat costly cyber threats.

 

You can transform your business’ biggest cybersecurity risk – your employees – into its prime defense against threats by developing a security culture that emphasizes adequate and regular security awareness training.

 

Making all this happen requires continued effort. With the right partner by your side, you can easily integrate security awareness training into your cybersecurity strategy.

 

Take the first step towards training and empowering your employees: contact the cybersecurity consultants at Third Power IT. Visit www.ThirdPowerIT.com to get started now.

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Article curated and used by permission.

 

Sources:

  1. McAfee Cloud Adoption & Risk Report
  2. Verizon 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report
  3. Security Magazine Verizon Data Breach Digest

The post Are Your Employees Your Biggest Cybersecurity Risk? The Top 4 Insider Threats Affecting Your Network appeared first on Third Power IT – Managed IT Services.

Courtesy of Miami IHIPAA Compliance IT Company - ThirdPowerIT.com

Cybersecurity Awareness Training: An Essential Investment For Protecting Your Network From A Cyber Attack

Did you know employee error accounted for nearly a quarter of data breaches in 2020?

 

That’s why it’s so important to implement routine security awareness training for your employees.

 

As the first line of defense against cyber attacks, your employees must be thoroughly and regularly trained to identify and deflate potential cyber threats. This can help you prevent a vulnerability from escalating into a disastrous cyber attack.

 

What Is Security Awareness Training?

 

In order to deal with the growing cyber threat landscape, your employees need thorough and regular security awareness training.

 

Security awareness training is the ongoing process of educating your employees on best practices when it comes to cybersecurity.

 

This training should include:

 

  • How to create strong passwords and keep them protected
  • How to identify suspicious emails, links and more
  • How to implement and manage security patches

 

When employees know what to look for and what to avoid, they will be less likely to fall victim to a cyber attack.

 

Why Invest In Security Awareness Training?

 

When you invest in security awareness training, employees will be well equipped to identify cyber threats and respond to them quickly and efficiently.

 

This can save your business from:

  • Data breaches
  • Damage to reputation
  • Expensive lawsuits

 

The following statistics further highlight why you should invest in regular security awareness training:

 

  • 80% of organizations experience at least one compromised account threat per month.
  • 67% of data breaches result from human error, credential theft or social attack.
  • Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, phishing attacks have gone up by 67%.

 

As you can see, cyber threats are only getting more common, and they’re here to stay. Why not train your employees to help ward them off?

 

Implement Security Awareness Training Now

 

Help your employees help you. When you implement security awareness training, your employees will feel a greater sense of responsibility to keep your network safe.

 

Plus, they’ll know how to avoid minor mistakes that can snowball into a massive data breach that will negatively impact that whole company.

 

With ongoing training, you can transform your biggest cybersecurity risk – your employees – into your prime defense against cyber threats.

 

Take the first step toward developing a security culture that emphasizes adequate and regular security awareness training.

 

Not sure where to start?

 

The cybersecurity experts at Third Power IT can help. As Miami’s premier network security consultants, Third Power IT can help you implement a security awareness training program that works.

 

Ask us about our custom offerings today. Call us now at 844-677-3687 and learn more at www.ThirdPowerIT.com.

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Article curated and used by permission.

 

Sources:

  1. McAfee Cloud Adoption & Risk Report
  2. Verizon 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report
  3. Security Magazine Verizon Data Breach Digest

 

 

 

The post Cybersecurity Awareness Training: An Essential Investment For Protecting Your Network From A Cyber Attack appeared first on Third Power IT – Managed IT Services.

Courtesy of Miami IHIPAA Compliance IT Company - ThirdPowerIT.com

Supply Chain Security Tips: Hear from South Florida’s Top Cybersecurity Consultants

Did you know a supply chain cyber attack could cost you millions?

 

Even if your supply chain operates through a third party vendor, you will be responsible for compromised data. As a result, you could face hefty fines and messy lawsuits if you don’t maintain supply chain compliance.

 

The Importance of Supply Chain Compliance

 

That’s why it’s so important for your business’ cybersecurity posture to prioritize detection, evaluation and mitigation of supply chain risks.

 

If you want to avoid a costly cybersecurity mishap, we advise that you practice ongoing supply chain risk management.

 

Below you’ll find top tips for supply chain cybersecurity from Third Power IT, providing the best cybersecurity services in Miami.

 

Supply Chain Risk Management Best Practices

 

Prevention is key when you are managing data, systems, software and networks.

 

By proactively adopting risk management practices, you will help enhance your supply chain’s security. Keep reading to learn some of these practices right now.

 

  • Security Awareness Training: Educate employees on cybersecurity so they know the mistakes to avoid. Draft an effective security awareness training program, and implement it regularly to ensure all stakeholders are on the same page.

 

  • Data Classification: Identify data, segment it according to its worth and assign security to each type of data. This will help you know your data thoroughly, which makes it easier for you to secure it.

 

  • Access Control: Grant data access to select users. With robust authentication and authorization protocols in place, you can minimize the chances of sensitive data getting compromised.
  • Authentication verifies whether the user is who they claim to be
  • Authorization verifies whether a user has access to a particular type of data

 

  • Monitoring: Monitor data consistently so you can detect threats quickly and respond to attacks right away. Evaluate relevant data to recognize suspicious activity. Pre-define acceptable behavior on the monitoring system. If breached, the system will trigger an alert.

 

  • Endpoint Protection: Secure endpoints to protect the most vulnerable part of your supply chain. Cybercriminals are skilled at identifying weaknesses within your network. In most cases, it turns out to be an end-user device on your network or even devices on a third-party partner’s network.

 

  • Patch Management: Patch security gaps so your business isn’t exposed to cyber attacks. Whenever a new patch becomes available, update software immediately.

 

  • Routine Scanning: Enable a coordinated process to test, recognize, examine and reveal potential security threats. Automate these scans so they are conducted regularly without investing a lot of time and effort.

 

  • Network Segmentation: Segment your business’ network into smaller units so you can control movement of data from one segment to another. Automate this process to restrict suspicious entities from gaining access to vital information or data.

 

  • Managed Detection and Response: Deal with cyber threats strategically with MDR, an economically feasible service that helps you with in-depth threat detection and response. Threat hunting helps you with research and analysis of vulnerabilities.

 

Adopt Supply Chain Cybersecurity Best Practices Now

 

When it comes to supply chain security, the best practices mentioned above are just the start of how to prevent security incidents. Enlisting the help of an MSP can help you stay ahead of the curve.

 

The experts at Third Power IT have the experience necessary to build walls cybercriminals can’t break. Visit www.ThirdPowerIT.com to hear more about safeguarding your supply chain from looming cyberthreats now.

 

 

 

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Courtesy of Miami IHIPAA Compliance IT Company - ThirdPowerIT.com