Front & Centre: 5 Cybersecurity Risk Prevention Tips

Cyber threats are an enormous concern for business owners, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars annually. While it may seem that large multinational corporations are the victims, cybercriminals also often target small businesses, as they don't have the same risk prevention protocols against cyber threats. Cybercriminals get more creative every day, making it crucial for every company to invest in cybersecurity risk management to protect themselves, their digital assets and sensitive client information.

Cyber risks can be managed effectively with the help of security teams specializing in containing cyber threats and monitoring network activity in real time. As more businesses store sensitive information online, small local operations must remain vigilant and take the necessary steps to mitigate cybersecurity risks.

Does Your Company Really Need Cybersecurity Risk Prevention?

Regardless of your business size, you have the information cybercriminals want, such as personal customer data and access to business finances. Without a cybersecurity risk assessment to identify weaknesses and a risk management strategy to address these weaknesses, businesses are vulnerable to total shutdown.

The basic cybersecurity measures, such as firewalls and antivirus, are no longer enough to protect your company's sensitive information. As a result, businesses across multiple industries choose to work with a cybersecurity company, so they can get effective professional cybersecurity risk management and protection.

Many cybersecurity insurance carriers now require companies to engage in cybersecurity services to qualify for coverage. Without these professional cybersecurity management protocols in place, businesses that have suffered a breach or ransomware attack don't qualify for insurance assistance.

IT security compliance can be complex, but the right service provider can help you achieve the required compliance standards.

5 Ways to Improve Cybersecurity Awareness in the Workplace

Cybersecurity awareness is an integral part of keeping your company safe. The more engaged and well-trained your workforce is, the better they can identify and report suspicious activity. By empowering staff members to take their role in defending your business against active threats, they become part of the security team.

Let's take a look at some methods to increase awareness throughout your organization.

Partner With a Managed Security Services Provider

Many small businesses partner with a managed service provider (MSP) to manage their day-to-day technological requirements. Partnering with a company that's both an MSP and a managed security services provider (MSSP) has a multitude of benefits, including the following:

• Reduce risks: You experience proactive security consulting within your current workflow.
• Train your employees: An MSSP that offers training for your staff creates a cohesive unit within your business and a focus on creating a solid cybersecurity culture.
• Enjoy ongoing security coverage: MSSP security coverage includes continuous visibility and quick remediation of security vulnerabilities.
• Employ rapid incident response: The ability to respond immediately to a breach or ransomware attack is vital to keeping your digital assets safe.

Conduct Regular Cybersecurity Training Across Your Organization

Promoting cybersecurity awareness and providing employees with the tools to recognize and act on threats is critical. Standard employee security awareness training can keep your staff aware of all the latest threats and put cybersecurity procedures at the forefront of their minds.

Create an awareness culture within your business by making training mandatory across all levels within your business, so every employee learns to be aware of possible threats. You can implement your security culture from the beginning and make it a cornerstone of your business model. 

Regular cybersecurity drills — such as sending fake phishing emails — help you assess the efficacy of your educational program and identify weak areas within employee knowledge. You can use this data to address vulnerable points and engage in further training.

Make Cybersecurity a Priority

A cyber risk assessment helps you identify weaknesses in your business security system, and together with your MSSP, develop a cohesive strategy to implement awareness campaigns and security protocols. It's best to involve all management staff, as they'll showcase the level of importance your business places on preventive cybersecurity. 

Once the assessment has identified potential risks, consider budgeting for and implementing Managed Detection and Response (MDR) endpoint protection across your entire IT environment to align with cybersecurity best practices. MDR takes a preventive approach to security threats and suspicious activity with 24/7 monitoring, automatic threat containment and human-driven threat hunting based on usage trends.

Create a Strategy and Promote Your Best Practices

Consider creating robust and exhaustive cybersecurity procedures and policies to avoid confusion and unintentional human error. Set specific browser and email use guidelines and ensure your employees know and understand the rules and regulations.

Cybersecurity best practices are only effective if practiced hand-in-hand with employee education — your employees must understand why insecure browsing on company devices, opening suspicious emails and using personal mobile devices for secure work procedures can be dangerous.

As a starting point, your MSSP should conduct a proactive vulnerability scan. From there, they can help you create a strategy aligned with your weak points, budget and business objectives.

Open Lines of Communication

Raise awareness throughout your business with visible reminders of what employees should be on alert for and create a culture where employees are comfortable reporting suspicious activity and errors.

Ensure all your employees have the contact details of your 24/7 cybersecurity company and encourage them to reach out if they're uncomfortable or uncertain about any aspect of your cybersecurity program or if they think they've identified a potential threat.

How Centre Technologies Can Help You Manage Cybersecurity Risks

Centre Technologies offers comprehensive cybersecurity risk prevention solutions for your small business. Secure managed services from Centre Technologies include the following:

• Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Your first line of defense against phishing attacks is often implementing MFA for all email accounts, cloud-based storage and online software.
• Security awareness training: Employees benefit from quarterly training, consisting of a managed curriculum tailored to your unique business and employee compliance requirements.
• Phishing campaigns: With an eye to continuous improvement, Centre Technologies will launch phishing campaigns to test your employees in a real-world setting. The testing process helps identify weaknesses so that we can tailor your employee education further.
• Phish button: Employees can report phishing attempts immediately just by clicking on the phish button. Our team will provide immediate counteractive measures.
• Reallocate in-house IT department resources: Your internal IT department can be more productive, as they aren't involved in the laborious task of blocking phishing attempts and blocklisting spam emails. 

Your business can be protected further through our Managed Vulnerability Scanning (MVS) services, which include:

• Vulnerability scanning: Centre Technologies will monitor and assess your IT environment constantly and provide 24/7 support in the case of a breach or other emergency.
• Security dashboard: Centre Metrics Assurance and Compliance™ IT dashboards are a complimentary service for all our customers. This software allows you to access all your security metrics in one central hub.

Get Innovative Cybersecurity Risk Management With Centre Technologies

Centre Technologies is here to help you with reliable cybersecurity and other IT solutions if you're a small business in Texas. We're here to help you with our award-winning, personalized solutions, from managed IT services to consulting, cloud services and cybersecurity. Prevent breaches and unauthorized access to your business and customers' sensitive information with our proven IT security solutions.

If you'd like to learn more about having a qualified and professional cybersecurity company on your side, please feel free to reach out or ask for a quote today. Let Centre Solutions commit to your security so you can get back to business.