Is your company ready for the holidays? The out-of-office season is upon us and that means holiday cybersecurity should be a top priority, as the number of cyberattacks increases during November and December. From phishing emails, to fake barcodes, to ransomware, the ways in which your company can be targeted are increasing. This is why we have devised a list of holiday cybersecurity tips, so your organization and employees can remain safe and celebrate this holiday season.
Hackers know that small businesses are more vulnerable during the holiday season, and the number of cyber threats has gone up over the years. According to Forbes, there was an 82% increase in ransomware attacks in 2021. During the holiday season, there is more online shopping, less staff at the office, and increased opportunity for fraud.
At PC Corp we know the value of your data and we want to help you protect it this season! So, we have put together eight tips to help you safeguard your organization during the holidays! These tips are a checklist you can use to ensure the security of your employees and your data.
Train all employees in security principles. Being able to trust your staff not to open a suspicious email and click anything is important. They need to be able to recognize and report anything out of the ordinary. One employee’s click has the potential to cause a disastrous data breach and then you may spend your holiday trying to recover.
Just before you leave for the holidays, we suggest you check all of your company’s hardware and software for updates. These updates are made available to ensure all programs and applications are running smoothly. After all, your best defense comes from up-to-date systems!
A quick check of all your security architecture before you head away for the holidays could save you a major headache. It is a good idea to update passwords as well. If you don’t have a firewall, get one installed. They protect your network from unwanted visitors, and over the holidays those can come from multiple sources.
You need to create an access plan for employees at home. You have capable staff and they will probably want to check their work email over the holidays, but you should ensure they aren’t accessing company data from unsafe places, like public networks or unsecured home computers.
Make a backup of everything! It’s better to be safe than sorry, right? Creating backups of all company data is essential, that way everything will be ready for when you return, Our Managed Backup services could be just what you need.
Make sure no one employee can access all the data from anywhere. It’s probably better to limit access to department leaders only. Your employees may need to access items while they are away but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Ensure that authorization is set up clearly and consider installing multi-factor authorization for mission-critical data.
While there are limited people in the office, make sure no one can access your network who shouldn’t have access. Encryption will keep bots out and ensure that only your people are getting in.
You should be updating all your passcodes regularly, especially those of your employees. But right before the holidays is a great time to change them all and start the new year fresh!
Whether it is an employee accidentally opening a phishing email or a home computer with a virus, there are many ways your security can be breached during the holidays. At PC Corp, your security is important to us. The holidays are stressful enough without the added weight of worrying about what’s happening at the office.
Take a few minutes to work through the above checklist. Trust us, you’ll thank us later if something happens. Please just ask if you have any questions about this list. We are here to help.
If you are looking to increase your security for 2023, consider PC Corp Managed Services. Our programs cover many of the items above, and we can assist to implement other security best practices. We would be happy to help your organization prepare for the year ahead. Connect with us!