There are always two dimensions of a picture. And when we talk about Information Technology, there’s a bright side and a dark side. The bright side is, we’re transforming at a much faster pace. The dark side is, cyber-attacks are increasing at the same pace. Reacting to an occurring information security issue is a definite approach. But that is something which is a step beyond. The primary step is all about following a proactive approach. And that proactive approach involves the training of employees.
Some of the Most Hazardous Information Security Problem Areas Where You Need To Follow a Pro-Active Approach
Phishing
There’s a blast of BEC (business email compromise) scams that end up businesses with severe threats and data compromise. It can be very tricky for employees working in your organization to tackle these scams. Providing data security training to your employees is the ultimate solution rather than declaring them guilty for falling a prey to phishing scams. However, active participation and equal involvement of employees is a major point of concern over here, since not every employee is willing to adopt the change. They may be in their comfort zones by following the old ways of doing things. But creating a learning culture within your working environment would definitely help you and your employees.
Passwords
Make sure that all your associated business accounts are backed by a strong password along with two-layer authorization. Encourage your IT team members not to use the same password for multiple resources. Integrate into your IT security policy that every staff member has to change the password every month or two. Sharing of passwords should also be discouraged amongst staff members (even if they pertain to the same domain).
Software Upgrades
Keeping your software up-to-date helps prevent from data breaches, while WannaCry and Petya are the most-recent attacks that are reported last year. These two outbreaks exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows OS which spreads the malware within business networks without any consent of the user. So it is recommended that your staff members are fully aware of the importance of upgrading software patches. If the patches are already applied to your corporate systems, malware attacks like WannaCry and Petya won’t affect them.
Third-Party Links
An enterprise does not only have to worry about keeping its in-house information security intact, but it also has to deal with cybersecurity issues that are associated with other businesses too. Your organization may have implemented a sound information security policy, but if your concerned third-party vendor is affected and compromised, the same consequences shall have to be faced by you. Those attackers (the ones who attacked your third-party vendors) may end up targeting your business network by gaining potential access to it.
Your information security team must install dedicated servers so that whenever your vendor is compromised, your data remains protected from the cyber-attacks. A dedicated server restricts the access to your company’s network which helps protect against un-secured links with your third-party’s cyber-attacks. If that is something not possible for you to implement, consider talking to your business vendors to alert them what’s going around. Make sure the vendor you are dealing with are taking cyber security issues seriously and thus following the right protective measures so that you don’t end up compromising your crucial business data.
How CompTIA Security + Certification Helps
With the high increase in data volumes and information security hacks that we are about to witness in 2019, having a secured business environment has now become a top-most concern for IT enterprises operating around the world. A training session with the right type of IT certification like CompTIA Security + is highly recommended for cyber-security professionals who are responsible for ensuring that the business operates in the safest possible manner. The certificate holder of CompTIA Security + is a trained professional who knows how to trace and fix cyber-security issues before things start getting worse for the enterprise.
The top-most advantage of obtaining the CompTIA Security + Certification is that it demonstrates that the concerned staff member is not only knowledgeable about cyber-security issues, but he/she is also capable of resolving those issues in the best possible manner (in an event of a cyber-attack). The CompTIA Security + certificate also makes sure that your IT team possesses the right skill set for foreseeing any upcoming cyber-threats and that it follows a proactive approach so that those cyber-attacks never take place in the upcoming.
And further to that, getting the CompTIA Security + Certification guarantees that your IT team is competent enough because this certification requires the holder to obtain a fresh renewal of their credentials after a fixed-time period of three years. The renewal could be obtained by following one of two ways. The first method of renewing this certificate is to obtain an upgraded version of the certification in the same domain, while the second method involves gathering continuous education units (CEUs). These units require the certificate holder (whose CompTIA Security + Certification has expired) to participate in high-end learning activities like getting the researched articles published on white-papers or even attending live seminars/conferences hosted on the same domain. A minimum of 50 units is required to be gathered in order to renew the CompTIA Security + Certification. Both these methods of renewing the certification ensure that the candidate doesn’t get outdated and is always up-to-date with the current form of knowledge and security parameters to maintain the highest level of information and data security in the enterprise.
Get in touch with one of our CompTIA experts today.