With a new wave of remote working, businesses must pay even more attention to cyber security. This is because we are more at risk when businesses are being run from home, on public WiFi and on personal devices. There are many ways that businesses’ cyber security can be attacked, from spam emails to malware. So, how can you take steps towards a more secure business?
In this blog, we’ll cover everything you need to know to improve your cyber security, from email spam tools to email security software and VPNs. Read on to learn more about the importance of investing in these areas.
Spam blocking software
Unfortunately, your email’s junk folder isn’t enough to tackle fraudulent emails alone. As time goes on, spam emails become smarter and smarter and are able to beat your email provider’s spam filter. That’s why it’s vital you invest in the best spam blocking software available. This uses advanced machine learning techniques to provide you with the best highest level of protection.
An email spam tool such as MailCleaner is able to block 99.9% of incoming viruses using artificial intelligence algorithms and frequent updates to adapt to the constantly changing threats of spam emails.
Email security software includes inbound and outbound filtering features to identify the origin through IP address, account name, email address and more, to keep your business safe. You are able to set your pricing based on how small or large your company is, so you’re only paying for the protection you’re getting. An aggressive anti-spam email security software will keep you and your customers safe from malware, ransomware, and social engineering attacks. A protection that is essential in the modern business landscape.
Using a VPN
A virtual private network is an essential piece of security for most people, but particularly important for businesses. A VPN is a service that protects your internet connection and privacy online. It can help protect you against data breaches by redirecting your internet traffic through a VPN before sending it to your destination. It changes your IP address and masks your virtual location, encrypts your data and protects your devices from viruses and malware.
Viruses and malware can be detrimental to any business, regardless of what industry you work in. Within any business, there is plenty of confidential information, from employees’ personal information to bank details or client data.
Now that many people are working remotely, this may mean that employees are choosing to work in various places, from hotels to cafes and even shared internet in their building. However, this creates a risk of scammers being able to access the information they are downloading through public internet access, making your business a target. A VPN will apply an encryption protocol to all the data you send and receive and creates an encrypted ‘tunnel’ over the internet, securing the data travelling between you and your destination.
Make passwords more secure
Passwords are often a security measure that is overlooked, however, once cracked, a password gives someone access to a lot of information for free. Therefore, it’s important to make your company passwords much more secure. Criminals will hack passwords by intercepting them as they transfer over the network, automated guessing of millions of passwords, searching IT infrastructure for stored information and shoulder surfing in public places – among many other ways. If your employees are working remotely, it makes it even easier to guess passwords, so ensure that the ones used are designed not to be guessed by criminals.
You should prompt your employees to use strong non-predictable passwords and use different ones for different sites. Different sites use different levels of security, so if they are able to crack the password for a low-security site, they’ll then have access to all other sites that use the same password.
Here are some tips for stronger password safety:
- Use two-factor authentication. That way if a password is forgotten, you’ll need the email and phone number connected to the account to change it.
- Be cautious of public WiFi. Don’t use it to log on to secure sites.
- Avoid logging in to secure sites through a link in an email. This is a common phishing scam.
- Only allow remember password on personal devices. Not public ones.
- Do not enter your password if someone is able to see your screen in a public setting.
- Don’t send passwords over email.
Regular security updates
Running security updates is the only way for your security software to stay on top of potential threats. With ever-changing threats to security, it’s vital your business runs these security updates. Outdated security software may have vulnerabilities you aren’t even aware of and it will be even harder for the security software to find a fix to a problem it encounters if it isn’t equipped to find and solve the issue.
Updating your security software helps to ensure functionality by helping it to perform processes efficiently. It will also help to speed enhancements so you will be aware of issues much quicker. Furthermore, the software may run into bugs occasionally that will leave your business vulnerable to malware and spam. Unless you regularly update your software, it will not be able to do its job properly if there are bugs that need to be fixed.
With hacking trends ever-evolving, you can best prepare your business for protection by ensuring your security updates are installed regularly.
Auditing systems
As a part of your cyber security, you should be auditing your security systems regularly to ensure they are doing their job correctly and you have the best software in place. An audit will systematically evaluate the security of a company’s information system by measuring how well it performs to particular criteria. It will assess the security of the system’s physical configuration and environment, software, information handling and user practices.
A risk assessment will help establish and determine risks to your system and what your business could be vulnerable to. A vulnerability assessment will evaluate risks and look deeper into a business’ security procedures, design and implementation of controls. A good way to figure out how strong your security measures are is through penetration testing. This will involve an expert acting as a hacker and attempting to infiltrate your company’s security system which will then reveal which security measures need updating and evaluating. It’s also necessary to complete a compliance audit for businesses such as retail, finance, healthcare or government who are required to comply with certain regulations.
If your company handles a lot of sensitive data or has to meet certain requirements, you’ll need to conduct audits more regularly. However, the more you do it, the more you can establish stronger cyber security.
Staff training
No matter how big your company is, if your staff aren’t trained in appropriate security concerns and prevention, it’s likely there will be weak spots that could put your business in jeopardy. Every time someone new joins your team, you should go through introductory security training that outlines how important it is to maintain high-security measures and how to do this.
You can book your employees on to cyber security awareness training to give them a basis for this learning. Annual training will help ensure this information is used regularly during their working day and helps to keep your business safe. This will significantly reduce the risk of cyber-attacks and data breaches.
Email Filter Software From MailCleaner
If you run a business, your cyber security is important. It’s vital you take the steps to protect your sensitive data, avoid viruses and block spam emails. At MailCleaner, we provide anti-spam for businesses, to keep you and your clients safe. MailCleaner uses email security software to provide your business with an anti-spam gateway that is installed between your mail infrastructure and the Internet. It offers professional protection against viruses and eliminates up to 99% of spam.
Email is necessary for many business communications, whether internally, or with clients or other businesses. However, it is a weak spot for many businesses, allowing spam, viruses or malware in and putting your business at risk. MailCleaner works by stopping 99% of viruses, spyware, ransomware, cryptolocker, trojan and other harmful programs from gaining access to your data through your email.
We offer packages for both small and large businesses so you pay a price that is fair. MailCleaner is a recommended solution for many companies. From small sole traders to large corporations, our anti-spam software provides the best virtual enterprise protection around. For more information, visit our website or get in touch with a member of our team. We will be happy to answer any questions.