6 Best Practises that can help safeguard your organisation from data breaches

Data Breaches a.k.a known as ‘Data robbery’ practice, have become one of the most common technology-related crimes in this increasingly technologically connected world in which unauthorised people access your information without any consent. A data breach can hurt the reputation of an organisation which can take many years to heal. 

With increasing technological advancements, more of our information is moving to the digital world and with the push to the new normal of working culture, cyberattacks have become normal. Bigbasket, PayUCoin, Haldirams, Edureka and even the Twitter account of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website suffered a cyber security breach which has alarmed Indian companies and citizens to relook at their cybersecurity policies. As per the MeiTY, Indian citizens and organisations have faced over 7 lakh+ cyberattacks in 2020, more than double compared to the last year.

Cybercrime is the most profitable industry which continues to grow with a more digitally connected world which is taking rapid rise during the work from home during the onset of pandemic. Data breaches can occur for several reasons, including accidentally, but targeted attacks are typically carried out in these four ways: 1) Exploiting system vulnerabilities 2) Weak passwords 3) Drive-by downloads 4) Targeted malware attacks. With the rise of cyberattacks in India, here are some practices which help you to safeguard your organisation from such attacks:

Here are some simple steps one can take to safeguard its data:

1. Secure your Hardware

Companies prioritize their attention on acquiring new and sophisticated cybersecurity software and overlook the security of the company’s hardware and loss or theft of devices is a real threat company should be aware of companies should always begin their cyber-attack prevention strategy with the basics, firstly all the devices should be protected with a complicated password and share the password with the device users only and never write it down where it can be easily accessible. Always install an application like ‘find my device’ in all your devices so equipment that is stolen can quickly be located. 

2. Encrypt and Back up Data

India's cyber landscape is full of advanced threats from simple Phishing attacks to Intricate DoS attacks. Companies must ensure that data they collect, use and store must transmit in a secured way. Companies will safeguard their data by always encrypting, as highlighted by researchers in the International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, data encryption remains the ‘most efficient fix’ for data breaches. Full disk encryption software is always included in all operating systems so they can encrypt all the data available in laptop or desktop computers when it’s at rest. Backing up data is another key way to protect companies from security breaches. At the time of ransomware attacks, companies can stay one step ahead if they had backed up all their data and stored it separately. 

3. Educating staff on the dangers of unsecured networks

To safeguard their crucial data from being stolen, companies banning employees from using their devices for work is an obvious approach, but it might not work in the long run due to the work from home culture. It is therefore imperative for companies to educate their staff about the risks of using unsecured networks as it exposes XYZ to the dangers of phishing, malware attacks, etc. 

4. Use anti malware and firewall software

Research has shown that most cybercrimes happened due to malware infection, which accounted for 53% of all cybercrimes, and ransomware attacks have risen as the most prevalent attacks for the business and existing anti-virus tools are not effective against their risks. Ransomware works quietly in the background and only be detected by an antivirus program when it is too late so it's better to invest in anti-malware and firewall software that catches and isolates software viruses when they strike. Companies' priority is to invest in optimized firewalls as it is the key to preventing your systems from cyber attacks. 

5. Discourage password sharing

Password sharing is the most common security concern faced by multiple organisations, the need to educate staff about this growing concern is increasing as many organisations are witnessing an evident rise in password theft and forgery of passwords. The need to use protocols, such as creating temporary passwords for contractors or fasten the onboarding process for new hires, will also help to minimize the risk in which password sharing is needed in the workplace. 

6. Adopt a Zero-trust Approach

A Zero Trust approach assumes every user and device is untrusted from the outset. This means that for every request by a user to access certain applications, a Zero-Trust model assesses the risk associated with the user, and the context of their request, before granting access, that too only to those applications which they are allowed to access. This approach is slowly gaining ground among governmental and non governmental organisations, with leading market research agencies predicting that the Zero-Trust Model will soon replace traditional security systems as the future of network, cloud, and data security.

The article is authored by Sandeep Kumar Panda, Co-Founder & CEO, Instasafe