In Oliver Stone’s 1987 movie Wall Street, Gordon Gekko kept stating that all battles were won on information. His point is even more true today. Large corporations, extortionists and other cyber-criminals all use illicit tactics to steal information from promising businesses.
In order to protect your company, you need to safeguard your information. Here are some tips that every business owner and IT manager should follow.
Establish a Security Protocol
You need to have a clear set of security standards in place that every employee must follow. Make sure every employee is given clear instructions and understands the consequences for violating them.
Use a VPN for Better Encryption
Most VPNs use 32-bit encryption to protect traffic. You should use one of these tools in case hackers try spoofing your data. You can look into VPN services at VPNanalysis.com.
While VPNs are valuable for encrypting communications, you still can’t be careless with your data. You must take all possible precautions to prevent hackers from intercepting any of your information.
Be Cautious with Strange Emails
Hackers rely heavily on social engineering to steal information. They usually do it through email these days.
You want to be very careful opening odd emails. They often provide attachments, which are infected with malware. They may also try to refer you to a website that will automatically install malware on your machine.
You should look at the authentication tokens of the email provider first. You should also see whether or not the email came from a reputable source, such as a known colleague or company that you have done business with.
Look at Email Addresses Instead of Just Headers
Look carefully at the email address of every sender. Some hackers try to use names for email addresses, which resemble legitimate companies. For example, one notorious spammer uses emails with the name “Paypal.” If you look at the email address, you can see the sender is using a hotmail address.
Pay close attention to your email senders so you don’t get duped like this.
Don’t Be Lax with Your Passwords
While some systems use two-point verification systems these days, most still rely on passwords. Even if you have multiple-point protection, being careless with your password can leave you vulnerable.
You will need to choose your passwords very carefully. Here are a couple of tips to follow:
- Don’t choose a password that includes anything personal, such as the name of your children or school that you attended.
- Make sure your passwords are between 8 and 16 characters long.
- Try to use at least two special characters or numbers in every password.
- Be careful sharing information that can be used to answer security questions to reset passwords.
- Don’t write your password down or share it with anyone!
Many famous hackers were able to bypass security systems of large corporations, because people were too careless with their information. One of these hackers was only 13 years old, which was very embarrassing for the company involved.
Protecting Online Information Must Be a Priority
Your company depends on your information today more than ever. It is literally the only competitive advantage many companies have in an increasingly complex economy.
You can’t risk having your sensitive information being exposed. Take all possible precautions to safeguard it from hackers.
