Stay smart online
By Rodney Russell
Australians are expected to lose a record amount to scams this year. In August, the ACCC revealed projected losses for 2019 are expected to surpass $500 million for the first time. The average cost of cyber crime to an Australian business is around $276,000 - ouch!
Unfortunately, cyber security can be seen as a burden for many businesses often due to the costs and an attitude of “We’ve never been hacked”. With continuously evolving threats, cyber security needs to be at the top of your business' agenda.
Last week was “stay smart online week” so we thought it was perfect timing to talk about how you can easily protect your business without spending a fortune and how we can help.
Password Security
This is often the first piece of security you should be looking at. Where do you store your password? How complicated or simple are your passwords? Do you use the same password for your facebook and bank account?
Using a password manager can save you time with password storage and security, not to mention the burden of having to remember all of your passwords. Some applications such as LastPass store passwords on the cloud which you can access from multiple devices. If you would rather not store your password on the cloud, applications such as KeePass store passwords on your computer.
The advantage of using a password manager means you will only need to remember one password (the login for the password manager) to access all of your passwords.
Backups
What would you do if your hardware failed? What if you suddenly have a security breach and all your files are encrypted? How about accidently deleting that folder with all your passwords?
Backup! Then backup your backups by storing them out of your office. There are plenty of software solutions that can do this for you. Windows and macOS computers have basic backup solutions built into them. For a more robust and dedicated backup solutions, checkout Veeam or Altaro.
Once you have a backup strategy in place, you should also schedule some time to do a test restore on your backups to make sure they’re working. There is nothing worse than having backups run for years, then one day needing them only to find your backups stopped working 6 months prior.
Software Updates
Do you often get those annoying popups mentioning that you need to restart your computer for important updates, but you never click on it because it means your computer may spend an hour rebooting while applying these updates? Chances are you’re leaving your computer open to a new vulnerability that is spreading around the internet.
Hackers are often prodding and probing popular software for exploits to cause damage to your systems. While many threats are spread through email spam, it only takes one wrong click for someone to open that email and spread the infection across a network of computers.
Put a day aside a week to check your updates, then apply them when you go out for lunch or before leaving work for the day.
Security Software
Having good security software on your computer can help save you in the event of that accidental click on an email. Applications from Sophos and MalwareBytes not only protect you from the traditional virus but help protect you from malware and ransomware attacks which now threaten our computer systems.
Think before you click
The best defence when it comes to Cyber Security is YOU. Know the signs, read the news, think before you click. Cyber Security is an evolving landscape and what is set today will be different in a month’s time.
Spam emails are getting more clever all the time, disguising themselves as your bank to trick you into clicking that link. That is what they’re designed to do, that is what they want you do to. Even attachments can cause harm. That harmless looking invoice from a place you’ve never heard of may have a payload that could infect your computer by simply opening the file.
If you receive a suspicious email, send it to your Junk folder (if you have one) or simply delete it.
Is your IT secure?
Take our 30 second survey to see if you are on the right track and receive a free 1-hour IT review.
Need help with your IT security?
If any of the above has you concerned about your business’ IT security we can help.
Rodney Russell joined Lincolns in early 2018 and has spent the last year revolutionising our IT. He has experience working with IT in small business, enterprise, healthcare and education. If you think you need your IT refreshed, give us a call on 9841 1200 to arrange some time with Rodney to review your IT.
