Tag Archives: cyber security

Why is endpoint security important while remote working during COVID-19?

Accepting the “New Normal”, yes we all are hearing this famous term which asks us to find ways to live a new normal life which includes the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Well, it’s good to see that people are making their efforts to keep their lives and work going by finding alternatives, the sudden massive remote working force is the best example of this.  

Yes, while the businessmen are driving their workforce to serve their duty remotely, the increase in the cybersecurity threat has taken a surge. The employees during the remote work are connected to different home networks which might not be secured via firewalls to protect them against any cyber attack. 

As such connections are vulnerable and an easy target of phishing attacks. It’s a threat for the organization or corporate owners as there are many confidential data like credentials and the company documents that are being shared via those networks. So here comes the need for endpoint security for the business, especially when the employees are working remotely. 

What is endpoint security? 

Endpoint security is a process or an approach to protect the entry points or endpoints of different devices like laptops, mobile phones, and desktops that are remotely connected to client devices. With the endpoint security software, the devices connected in a specific corporate network or on a cloud are enveloped with high-security controls which ensures that data are not leaked through any of the endpoint devices, thus reducing the threat of the organization being a victim of cyber scams. 

These endpoint security controls are developed and evolved from the traditional antivirus software and are much-taken care when it comes to complying with the security standards. Considering endpoint security as a cybersecurity frontline for many huge organizations, this approach stands first for the companies looking for a secured enterprise network.

Moving forward, let’s look at some of the security threats that remote workers face to understand the need for endpoint security for them. 

Cybersecurity threats for remote workers 

  • Phishing 

While working remotely, exchange of the confidential data, credentials, and project details between the employees and the employers is a normal thing to happen. As every one of them is connected to different networks, there are chances of data breaching and phishing attacks while the information is being transferred. 

Here the hacker can easily manipulate the data and send the corrupted links and messages with the malicious attachment to the other side. The receiver on clicking the link or opening the corrupted email, thus becomes a part of the phishing attack and the hacker will get access to all the device data. 

 

  • Wifi security exploitation

 

The employees when working in the office are connected to office wifi which is well protected by wifi security and has complete access over the wifi usage with the track record. 

During work from home, the remote employees are connected to their home wifi or phone wifi network to their office devices which have much data related to the projects. As these networks use weeker protocols like WEP which are less powerful than protocols like WPA-2 gives easy access to the wifi network to the hackers. 

This loophole in the wifi security can thus act as a reason for a big cyber scam.

 

  • Password hacking 

 

The team working on a similar project might be logged in with the same project credentials from different devices in different networks. Well, it’s very easy for the hacker to hack the simple passwords and if this simple password is used on many platforms, it’s an easy go for him to crack and hack the devices and accounts. 

Password hacking is a common cyber-attack scenario especially seen for the corporate organization, as for them the data is all they work on and if its hacked there could be a disastrous situation that could destroy their company. 

In order to avoid such mishaps and to ensure that your remote team and your organization data are under a safe environment, below are some endpoint security controls that can help you protect your workforce.

Endpoint security management and controls for remote workers 

  • Implement next-generation EDR 

The traditional endpoint security solutions were capable of securing nodes of a specified network in the office. While with the all-new and advanced EDR the same safety feature is available to use even outside the corporate network. 

These advanced EDR have the ability to prevent malware while also enabling the user to take immediate action to stop such new malware from entering or spreading into the system. The new EDR helps the corporate owners to get complete and stronger endpoint protection on or off the network. 

  • Use VPN and MFA while working with remote employees 

It’s very important for the corporates to handle sensitive data especially when the team is working remotely. Adopting for VPN and using only this for the data transfers and work will ensure data security to a greater extent for these employers. 

As the device and the data are not exposed to any external network, the chances of data scams can be reduced. While keeping a multi-factor authentication for your every internal application can also be a great option to ensure safety as it will help you and your team to double-check the access point and ensure that apps are being used by an authorized user of the company. 

  • Enhances 24/7 security monitoring on your shared network 

Working in the advanced corporate world, your data would be stored on the cloud, so while working from home your employees would be able to access those clouds and other infrastructure for accomplishing their work.

This is the time when the owners have to improve the cloud access security by enabling such an endpoint security factor that has a constant eye (24/7 tracking) on the network security and cloud infrastructure to keep the corporate devices protected from malware attacks. 

Summing Up

The pandemic situation has made us all led towards a new life with a changed approach. While the business is accepting this not so old concept of remote working as the new normal for the company operation, opting for the solutions that keep the security of the employee and the company data should be considered as a center point to avoid any mishaps. 

As currently there is a high strain on the online resources used by the organization for the coordination of the work process, endpoint security management is a great way to ensure that your organization is working in a safer space.

Author bio :

Parth Patel is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of SyS Creations – managed IT services in Ontario. He has been serving in the Canadian healthcare industry for more than 7 years. Along with his team, Parth Patel has earned expertise in customized app development and even developed a virtual healthcare solution for long-term care homes.

Best cyber security Practices to instantly safe your Business Data

Data breaches and cyber-attacks have shown a rapid rise in the last few years. Though cyber security preventive measures and technology have improved, hackers have also become more proficient and are using sophisticated and hidden ways for attacking network. 

These cyber-criminals attack in multipleways as shown in the below picture, to grab your personal or business information.

These attacks are made to steal and misuse your business data, and hence it is crucial to safeguard your business with strong cyber security measures.

Network Security +Web Security + Application Security +Information Security +Operational Security = Strong and Secured Cyber Security.

In this article, I have focused on some important cyber-security measures which can shield your business data against cyber-criminals. Let’s have a peep into a few of them.

Best Cyber-Security Practices to keep your Business Data safe:

  • Use Complex Passwords:

One of the top reasons, why hackers can instantly gain access to your network is easy to guess passwords. Many corporate business owners are careless in creating a complex password or don’t realise the importance of the same, and face major business challenges when data breaches take place.

A password becomes complex when a proper combination of alphabets, numbers, special characters, symbols, upper case and lower case are used. Password Vaults and use of complex passwords make it impossible for hackers to penetrate through them for accessing network.

More Tips:

  • Change your passwords frequently
  • Use different passwords for different accounts
  • Never re-use any previous passwords
  • Never write your passwords on paper or share it with anyone 
  • Use 2 factor authorization
  • Use long passwords
  • Passwords should not contain your name or ID
  • Use password manager for unique passwords
  • Buy And Install SSL certificate for your Business Website:

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is a security protocol which protects data communicated between web servers and browsers with encryption security.

Its visual trust indicators are clearly seen in the URL and address bar; i.e. green padlock in the address bar and https in the URL.

Benefits:

  • It provides encryption security which gives a tough time to hackers for decoding and penetrating sites.
  • It boosts Google rankings
  • It instils trust in visitors visiting the site
  • PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) have put SSL security as a compulsion in its compliance. Such is the security strength of SSL.

Example:

Comodo PositiveSSL is an entry-level certificate which is quite popular and trusted all across the globe. This Domain Validation SSL when installed on a website encrypts all your data with 256-bit encryption security standard and is compatible with most of the browsers and servers.

Buy SSL certificate, install it on your business site and secure your business.

  • Don’t open Suspicious-looking Emails:

Any emails sent from public email domains, having spelling errors in emails, wrong spelling of domain name, emails having suspicious attachments or links etc. are distrustful and you need to be cautious while opening such emails.

Best is to avoid opening such emails, because there may be phishing emails who lure you into grabbing your sensitive information. Never click links on emails sent from unknown sources, because they may guide you to infected sites, causing damage to your device as well as business.

  • Educate all Employees:

Ignorant employees who are unaware about cyber-security measures pose a threat to your business. Cyber-criminals are becoming more tech-savvy and are using unique methods to penetrate your network and destroy your business. These criminals target the low level employees for penetration and go till the top once they get a chance. There are cases where employees fall in phishing traps set by these criminals, and their ignorance puts your business data at huge risk. 

Point Research Report on Information Security indicates that 77% of the IT guys feel that their teams are unprepared for cyber-security challenges.

Educate employees at all levels about these cyber security measures and security protocols by conducting training sessions regularly. Depute an IT guy well versed with the latest cyber threats and raise the awareness bar for the safety of your business.

  • Install a trusted antivirus software:

You cannot stay alert all the times. Hackers don’t give warnings before making an attack on your network. Though your employees are well trained and educated about the cyber security measures, it may happen that they accidently click on phishing emails due to negligence or pressure to stay alert.

These phishing emails load malware into your network and that’s where installation of anti-malware software comes in the picture. Also install anti-virus software on your desktop or laptop too, because it protects your business data by removing viruses, spyware, adware, botnets etc. This software also filtersspam and harmful emails;and helps restore compromised data.

Update them regularly to get rid of new viruses, and keep your business information safe.

Norton Security Premium, Bit Defender Total Security 2020, Kaspersky Security Cloud 2020 etc. are some of the best antivirus software’s available in the market.

  • Use Multifactor Authentication:

Dual Protection or Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) means verifying the identity of the user using multiple credentials. This additional level of security secures the data, because the computer grants access only when all the factors are authenticated.

Example:MFA is a combination of authentications like retina scan, password, pin number, facial recognition, and codes sent on email id etc. 

The main benefit is that hackers find it difficult to authenticate all the factors for gaining unauthorised access to your network, thus preventing data breach attacks.

  • Use the Principle of Least Privilege: 

POLP (Principle of Least Privilege) means permitting only essential privileges to all employees. Granting privileges in common to all employees can prove fatal for your business, because chances of misusing it or compromising business information may bind to increase.

By restricting access to systems on outside job functions, the employee cannot misuse data and if they do so, the risk is restricted to the user access only.

  • Limit Employee Access to Data and Information:

Maximum data breaches begin from the company itself. Internal dissatisfied employees or terminated employees of the company may cause harm to your business. 

Create Role Based Access Control (RBAC), and restrict access to authorised employees, which will keep your data safe from being vulnerable against attackers. Critical data access should be given to highly trusted employees only and not shared amongst the entire staff.

Access control policy is one of the best security practices to protect confidential data of your business. Document each access given to employees, update it when new accesses are given or removed, and disable login and user credentials of terminated employees with immediate effect to secure your client data. 

A step ahead is to monitor user activity and behaviour and identify any suspicious behaviour. Disengage the employee from important accesses, if any alarming behaviour is noticed. This precautionarymeasure goes a long way in protecting your business information.

  • Regularly Back Up all Data:

In today’s era you cannot do business without computers and servers. They are storages of your business information and they also need backup securityin case of contingencies. 

An emergency like system crash, hard drive failure, corrupted drive etc. may happen any time, and the only thing which comes to rescue is back-up.

Man-made attacks like Spyware and Malware attack your data, and make it infected. To prevent data loss, it is important that all your data like word documents, databases, electronic spread sheets, HR files, accounts database etc. are all stored in a safe place. 

Backup all your company data on external storage device regularly and divide the backups amongst important employees to alleviate internal threats. You can also use Cloud Backup wherein your cloud data is stored in another location which can be restored when needed.

Hire trained IT professionals,who can automate backup process and develop recuperation solutions as per your business requirement, for additional security.

Final Thoughts:

It takes just one click to allow an intruder to penetrate into your business. Right knowledge, right security measures and right approach to breach vulnerabilities can prevent disasters. Stay alert and prioritize your business data safety by implementing these cyber security practices.