Cyber hygiene: What is it and why is it so important?

Cyber hygiene is a practice that organizations and individuals use to ensure the security and health of their users, data, devices and networks.

Cyber hygiene is about protecting sensitive data from theft and attacks. This concept is similar to personal hygiene. Individuals can take precautionary measures to protect their health, such as flossing to reduce cavities and handwashing in order to prevent the spread of diseases. By following cyber hygiene precautions, organizations can protect their health and avoid data breaches.

It is important that cyber hygiene does not fall solely on IT security analysts, technicians and managers. It is a shared responsibility that all users and departments must prioritize. A common way that employees can contribute to cyber hygiene is to follow current email security best practices. This includes avoiding public Wi Fi and creating strong, unique passwords.

Cyber hygiene: What are its benefits and why is it so important?

Cyber hygiene has many benefits. Organizations can reduce the likelihood of data compromise, operational interruptions and data loss by ensuring they have a good cyber hygiene.

Security posture is the enterprise’s overall cybersecurity program strength and how well it can handle emerging and existing threats. A basic cyber hygiene program can help you achieve optimal cybersecurity.

Cyber hygiene issues can result in data compromise, data loss, and security incidents. Data breaches can lead to financial loss, government fines and operational downtime. They also cause organizational upheaval and damage to the reputation of the organization.

What are the challenges in maintaining cyber hygiene?

Cyber hygiene is crucial, but it’s not easy. These are some of the common challenges:

Complexity and breadth of IT environments. It is extremely difficult to maintain cyber hygiene in today’s enterprise due to the large number of users, devices, and assets that are often scattered across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Monotony. Cyber hygiene cannot be achieved by simply crossing off a checklist. It requires end users and security professionals to engage in a constant stream of important, but often mundane, tasks.

User buy-in. IT security teams cannot achieve good cyber hygiene by themselves. They require the engagement and support of all end users within their organizations, even those who are not experts or interested in cybersecurity.

Cyber hygiene best practices for users

Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility. This means that although organizations must prioritize cyber hygiene, individual users also need to be vigilant.

Users should be aware of these cyber hygiene best practices.

• Backups. Backups. Regularly back up your important files to a secure, separate location. This will ensure that you are protected and isolated in the event of a network breach.
• Education. Users should not click on attachments or links in emails. Keep abreast of new phishing techniques and malware.
• Encryption. Protect sensitive data with device and file encryption
• Firewalls. Firewalls and routers should be properly configured and set up to prevent bad actors from accessing private systems.
• Password hygiene. According to Verizon’s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report 61% of all breaches are user credentials. To prevent unauthorized access, maintain good password hygiene and use multifactor authentication (MFA), to make it more difficult.
• Management of patches. Patch management. Install all available security patches and software updates on company-owned devices as well as personal devices.
• Online discretion. You should not post any personal information that a bad actor could use in order to reset or guess a password or gain access to private accounts. Cybercriminals may use personal information already online to launch social engineering attacks.
• Security software. Antimalware and antivirus software are essential to protect your system against malware, viruses, ransomwares, rootkits, Trojans, and other malicious programs. Regular scans are recommended to identify unusual activity.

Good Cyber hygiene  may be difficult to achieve, but, it can be accomplished with help. SpartanTec in Charleston SC is a cybersecurity company you can call on for help. We have been around since 2002 and have seen many changes in internet security. We are a company you can trust to keep your data, employees and devices secure from external and internal threats.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Charleston, SC 29407
843-418-4792
https://manageditservicescharleston.com/

Serving: Woodhaven, Lighthouse Point, Farmington, Lynnwood, Hillside, Oak Forest, Oceanview, Mount Pleasant, Green Acres, Northbridge