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Our Top Cyber Security Tips for Employees

As the world of IT and technology develops, our working lives are becoming increasingly dependent on technology and its advancements, meaning there has never been more urgency surrounding safe working within the digital world.

Even utilising modern IT systems, technology and a water-tight defence strategy, often there is little that can be done with one of the most common reasons for cyber breaches … 

Human error.

Here at CSG, we know the importance of training your staff, and ensuring procedures are in place to maximise the level of protection for your organisation.  That’s why we’ve collated our handy tips guide here to get your team clued up in minutes … 

Here are our 7 best Cyber Security tips to follow in 2022 to make sure you’re keeping yourself safe online.

Use strong and varied passwords

Seems an obvious one, but it’s one that consistently causes issues for companies.  Ditch that old password from your youth and don’t continuously reuse a single password across multiple sites, devices and logins as that could leave your whole digital profile vulnerable.

Try to use varied characters, numbers and special characters, as well as a mix of upper and lower case letters, in short, the more complex your password is the more difficult it is for hackers to crack and get into your accounts.

Use Two-Factor Authentication

Having a strong password is hugely important, but making sure you have two-factor authentication is just as so. This method provides two layers of protection. So if by some chance, a hacker does guess your password correctly, they’ll still need to make it past another layer of protection. These are most commonly texts, calls or emails.

Keep your systems updated

Using out-of-date systems is a bad idea for many reasons, not least the reduction in business performance and the risk of being left behind by competitors. However, it’s much easier for hackers to get into your system with out-of-date IT.  They’re able to exploit all the ageing weaknesses within a system, and the outcome could be catastrophic.

Keep software (and hardware) updated, with regular maintenance, or even an audit from an IT provider.

Think before you click

Before you click any link, it’s important to automatically and inherently assess the validity of it and its source. Malicious links can do all sorts of damage to your device and increase the risk of exposure to malware, so before you click on anything, do your due diligence and make sure it’s safe. 

Sometimes you can hover over a link from a desktop, and you get a preview of the URL address, allowing you to analyse the link before clicking on it. 

Be aware of phishing scams

There are over 3 billion fake emails sent daily forming part of the tools available in a hacker’s arsenal.  Often in these phishing attacks, the hacker will pretend to be someone that the recipient knows for them to fall for the attack. The hacker usually wants the recipient to reveal personal information about themselves and open malicious links or software to infect the recipient’s systems.

Tips to avoid being caught out by phishing: 

  • Don’t open emails from unknown people or email addresses
  • Never click a link without checking where the link directs (Hover over the link to find this information)
  • Look for spelling errors within the email
  • Educate friends and family about these attacks so they can avoid being attacked themselves

Don’t use public WIFI without a VPN

Using a VPN encrypts the traffic between the server and your device, making it more difficult for a hacker to get access to your files.  If you’re using public WIFI be mindful of utilising a VPN, and be especially careful if you’re accessing work files whilst using public WIFI.

Taking a proactive approach … 

The number of cyber attacks small to medium businesses is experiencing is ever growing, with over 60% reporting they had some sort of attack in 2021, with up to 36% being connected to phishing attacks (an 11% increase on 2020).

The fact of the matter is that if organisations are not taking a proactive approach to cyber security they are left vulnerable to attacks, if not now, then in the future.

 

 

What can you do … 

Due to ransomware operators evolving their methods and becoming more sophisticated in their attacks, organisations are under pressure to implement more advanced security strategies and methods of defence. 

 

Our experts at CSG recommend several suggestions: 

  • Keep regular backups of your files and data on an offline storage device
  • Use the guide above to educate employees about phishing
  • Make use of multi-factor authorisation across systems
  • Outsource your IT security to ensure 24/7 monitored network security

Contact Us 

If you’d like to work with our cyber security experts to develop a full and bespoke security strategy for your organisation, then do not hesitate to contact us.

Or if you’d like to see where you stand in the world of cyber, why not book in for a FREE network audit? 

The audit will fully take into account all security measures that are already in place and see how they are performing in terms of protection against threats.

Book yours here

Contact us for the best advice, strategy build and deployment in Cyber Security!

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