Pankaj Bhula | EMEA Regional Director | Africa | Check Point Software | mail me |
As the level of cyber threats rises every year, driving awareness around protection on Global Computer Security Day and beyond is crucial. The last 12 months saw the highest level of cyber incidents ever: a 40% surge in attacks worldwide, with the frequency in South Africa far above the global average.
Over the last six months, local companies have been attacked 1,729 times a week – this figure is 862 per organisation across the rest of the world, showing the scale of the problem in South Africa.
Protecting their IT systems
Increased remote working, new and more sophisticated threats, more devices, more computing power, and professional criminal gangs mean that anyone with a computer, smartphone, or IoT device must now regularly think about cybersecurity, but still, many don’t.
That is why we are sharing five important reminders about how companies can protect their IT systems in home and office set-ups.
Password basics
Passwords should be checked and strengthened regularly. It is important for employees to handle their passwords carefully, not to store them unsecured in Excel spreadsheets or leave them written down for anyone to see or stick them on the back of the keyboard. ‘1234’ or ‘password’ are not secure passwords.
Protect against phishing
Don’t click on links that look suspicious in any way, and only download content from reliable sources, because phishing, a popular form of social engineering, has become the main avenue of attack.
If an employee gets an email with an unusual request or a strange sender or subject, they should immediately start doubting.
Choose IT devices carefully
In connection with remote working, this point has become extremely important. The risk of a large-scale attack increases when employees use their personal devices, such as computers or cell phones, for work-related purposes.
Security software should be installed on all devices and the connection to the company network should be protected.
Keep software fresh
Hackers find entry points in applications, operating systems, and security solutions, as they generally monitor and exploit the appearance of vulnerabilities, which service providers address through fixes in updates.
One of the best protective measures is to use the latest version of any software – simple, basic but effective.
Use multi-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication is something many users are already familiar with from their online banking accounts, for example, when a single-use passcode, like a one-time PIN (OTP), is requested via cell phone.
In many cases, this login method is now being introduced for applications and accounts at online retailers to increase IT security. In this way, they have made it almost impossible for cyber criminals to gain access to the system despite knowing the password.
Investing in a comprehensive IT security architecture
This advice, paired with regular employee training on new cybercrimes, goes a long way toward protecting your own devices and your company against cyberattacks and malware, but with threats evolving constantly, the best protection is to invest in a comprehensive IT security architecture that consolidates and centrally controls security solutions against different types of attacks.
This covers all areas of IT security and can even intercept the dreaded zero-day attacks – when hackers use software vulnerabilities in cyber-attacks before the service provider has a chance to fix the problem in an update. Being proactive, not reactive, is the way forward in protecting against cybercrime.
