The most important thing a company can do is have a cyber security strategy in place that works to address vulnerabilities and has clear steps to take in the event of being breached, either from an internal or external source. It is also important to remember that it is impossible to protect against ever possible threat, but this shouldn’t stop you from trying. User awareness is key in preventing cyber-attacks. In order to better protect your company, you should:

• Educate yourself as to the various forms a cyber threat can take. From malware to a disgruntled employee, there are many ways your system and your business can be put at risk.
• Train your teams on the correct cybersecurity policies and procedures and ensure that these are adhered to.
• Establish seniority and access rights. Only give employees access to what is crucial for them to be able to carry out their job description.
• Make sure the basics are in place – antivirus programs, email security and an intelligent firewall. Secure your servers, your Wi-Fi and encrypt information shared over networks (this means no public Wi-Fi).
• Protect hardware as well as software and ensure all devices (both work and personal) are adequately password protected and remotely erasable.
• Regularly consult with cyber security professionals to ensure no vulnerability is overlooked.
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The human factor is often hardest to control and predict when it comes to data protection. While some companies invest in employee training in hopes that a well-educated work force, aware of the financial and reputational consequences of data breaches, will be enough to increase vigilance and deter poor security practices. However, the truth is, in many case, organizations are only one careless employee away from a damaging security incident. There is also always the potential danger of malicious insiders, disgruntled employees that want to damage a company’s reputation or steal data on their way out of an organization.

Data security means protecting digital data, such as those in a database, from destructive forces and from the unwanted actions of unauthorized users, such as a cyberattack or a data breach.

Technologies

Disk encryption
Disk encryption refers to encryption technology that encrypts data on a hard disk drive. Disk encryption typically takes form in either software (see disk encryption software) or hardware (see disk encryption hardware). Disk encryption is often referred to as on-the-fly encryption (OTFE) or transparent encryption.

Software versus hardware-based mechanisms for protecting data
Software-based security solutions encrypt the data to protect it from theft. However, a malicious program or a hacker could corrupt the data in order to make it unrecoverable, making the system unusable. Hardware-based security solutions prevent read and write access to data, which provides very strong protection against tampering and unauthorized access.

Hardware based security or assisted computer security offers an alternative to software-only computer security. Security tokens such as those using PKCS#11 may be more secure due to the physical access required in order to be compromised. Access is enabled only when the token is connected and correct PIN is entered (see two-factor authentication). However, dongles can be used by anyone who can gain physical access to it. Newer technologies in hardware-based security solves this problem offering full proof security for data.
Working off hardware-based security: A hardware device allows a user to log in, log out and set different levels through manual actions. The device uses biometric technology to prevent malicious users from logging in, logging out, and changing privilege levels. The current state of a user of the device is read by controllers in peripheral devices such as hard disks. Illegal access by a malicious user or a malicious program is interrupted based on the current state of a user by hard disk and DVD controllers making illegal access to data impossible. Hardware-based access control is more secure than protection provided by the operating systems as operating systems are vulnerable to malicious attacks by viruses and hackers. The data on hard disks can be corrupted after a malicious access is obtained. With hardware-based protection, software cannot manipulate the user privilege levels. It is impossible for a hacker or a malicious program to gain access to secure data protected by hardware or perform unauthorized privileged operations. This assumption is broken only if the hardware itself is malicious or contains a backdoor. The hardware protects the operating system image and file system privileges from being tampered. Therefore, a completely secure system can be created using a combination of hardware-based security and secure system administration policies.

Backups
Backups are used to ensure data which is lost can be recovered from another source. It is considered essential to keep a backup of any data in most industries and the process is recommended for any files of importance to a user.<

Data masking

Data masking of structured data is the process of obscuring (masking) specific data within a database table or cell to ensure that data security is maintained and sensitive information is not exposed to unauthorized personnel. This may include masking the data from users (for example so banking customer representatives can only see the last 4 digits of a customers national identity number), developers (who need real production data to test new software releases but should not be able to see sensitive financial data), outsourcing vendors, etc.

Data erasure
Data erasure is a method of software-based overwriting that completely wipes all electronic data residing on a hard drive or other digital media to ensure that no sensitive data is lost when an asset is retired or reused.

Cyber security systems and principles are designed to safeguard company data, websites, and web applications from attackers who seek to disrupt, delay, alter, or redirect the flow of data. These attackers vary in technical capabilities. To keep up, public and private organizations adopt ever-increasing measures to prevent cyber attacks. Our cybersecurity consulting team will assist with cybersecurity risk, remediation, and compliance efforts.