Your business is a target. The simple fact of being in business makes it so. There are a lot of bad actors out there who will go to great lengths to get your personal and financial information, and they have many different and innovative approaches to get it. There are small steps a business can take to make a big impact in protecting business data.
We cannot stress enough that every business should make it a priority to implement basic information/technology security standards and regular employee training. Remember that business data is not just Word documents and Excel spreadsheets — it includes banking and financial information, employee information (like social security and direct deposit info), customer, and vendor information. Even for a small business, the possibility of data exposure — or loss — is not trivial anymore.
NOOBEH cloud services works to keep your QuickBooks on Azure cloud deployment more secure in a variety of ways, but we always start with a few essential policies. These practices can mean the difference between a small IT annoyance or catastrophic failure with data encryption, loss, or exfiltration. Today is the day to start if you have not implemented these four essential policies in your business:
- Always use strong passwords, at least 10 to 12 characters, and make them complex. Require passwords to be updated periodically. Avoid common words or phrases and do not reuse passwords.
- Do not let users operate with permissions greater than required. In applications, consider restricting functionality based on the role or job requirements. On servers and PCs, make sure users are operating as “standard” users rather than system administrators. When you reduce the permissions granted to users, you prevent their accounts from performing possibly harmful actions in the system, like installing malware or damaging programs, modifying settings, or even creating backdoor user accounts.
- Control user account information and manage it closely. Simply knowing what user accounts exist can give hackers and phishers enough information to begin targeting logins and applying methods to crack them. Part of this includes making sure to remove or disable accounts for user accounts that are no longer needed. Every unused account that remains enabled is just another point of vulnerability.
- Limit the installed software to what is needed for the business and keep it current. Make sure operating systems and applications are up to date, and keep browsers and plugins updated to ensure they don’t become the weak link.
Cybercriminals are delivering waves of cyber-attacks that are both highly coordinated and far more advanced than ever before. Ransomware hits small businesses and enterprises alike, and stealth crypto mining gets criminals into unsuspecting corporate networks. The past year has been awash with massive data leaks, expensive ransomware payouts, and the realization of a completely new and extremely complicated threat landscape. The bad guys have upped their threat game in a big way.
Diligence is required to help protect valuable business information assets. Following these essential IT security practices will help the business avoid becoming easy prey and can provide a foundation for greater system security and a more streamlined approach to identity management, applications, and access.
Are you looking for help deploying and managing your business applications, desktops, and data in a better, more secure infrastructure? Check out NOOBEH cloud services. We work only on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform so you can be sure that your systems will have the resilience and agility to meet your needs today and in the future.
