Cybersecurity Protection? (Questions/Answers)

Melbourne IT Consultants are personally asked on a regular basis or receive many online submission forms; with questions and requesting answers from those inquiries; regarding Cybersecurity Services primarily in the areas of prevention and protection.

Not just answers for personal devices, but for employee training, best practices, data backups and at times requests come in regarding their entire system infrastructure. Some of the questions are short, while others are long and well thought out, but there are times some issues are too complicated to answer without further details.

Over time many of the submissions coming through, do ask the same general questions over and over; but the request may slightly be worded each time differently. Sorting through the inquiries; we’ve rounded it down to five common questions asked, and proactive solutions to consider for prevention and protection of your company and infrastructure.

What Is The Main Cyber Security Issue Our Company Faces?

This question is common and asked a lot. The business owner usually wants a general idea of what to look out for and typically is followed up with, “How much will this cost me?”

Listed are five possible answers to the question. However, this list is not exhaustive:

  1. Not covering Cyber Security basics with staff
  2. Not clear what causes Cyber Security Risks
  3. Lack of or no ongoing information training for all employees
  4. No backup or recovery plans setup or in place
  5. Old devices or outdated infrastructure

With cyber attacks, hacking, and ransomware infections never-ending; there is no, one answer fits all. But a good starting place always begins with addressing yours and your staff’s IT security education.

How Do We Know If We Assigned Enough Resources That Addresses Cyber Security Threats?

A question like this is not going to be easy to answer quickly over the phone or through email; not without first knowing what your company has set up or allocated. Your IT security consultant would generally request a time to meet and then at the meeting ask you this: “What specifically have you done?”

Once they have reviewed all your resources allocation information, and have a complete overview of what you’ve done and assigned; then they will be able to point out areas of potential weakness needing more resources allocated or other sections where resources need trimming.

How Often Should We Change Our Passwords And Should They Be Complex?

Changing passwords often and having a mandatory complex password changing policy in place, which describes the employee’s proactive participation, should be required. As for password changing timelines, and setting compulsory password deadlines is a best practices procedure.

Depending on the consultant and their IT company’s preferred timetable guidelines they may suggest 30, 60 or 90-day intervals. Just remember Passwords, complicated or not, are not for security, only for access control; they can still get cracked.

How Do We Communicate The Risks Employees Might Cause Using Their Own Mobile Devices?

You begin the conversation pointing out; the #1 cause of a data breach is human error, but not necessarily on purpose. Today, more than ever before, employees at all levels, from entry-level to upper management, business owner to CEO, carry their mobile devices everywhere.

Cell phones, tablets, and laptops all have access to email from these devices. There is a good possibility those same devices have access to your company’s cloud services, such as Office 365. If an employee or the CEO themselves cannot tell the difference between a real or a fake email, and they logged into your system, when they click on that email, you may suffer a data breach or a ransomware attack and not know how it originated.

To reasonably address mobile device security protection with staff, it must begin with thorough education and ongoing training, strict policies regarding internet and device use in place. Every employee must clearly understand the risk of a potential cyber attack; they may cause due to their negligence with their mobile device and not adhering to standing policy.

What Does Our Company Need To Do That Guarantees Our IT Security Is Moving Forward?

Most business leaders realize there are technical details they might not know or understand. However, what they do recognize their company must never suffer from a data breach or have their system go down from a cyber attack.

From this point forward is when a Melbourne IT Cybersecurity Consultant plays a considerable role and is called in for an IT Security Consultation. Their approach will be holistic and represents a significant part; when provided with strategic IT information, they present to you to protect your business from cyber threats.

Another area IT consultants assist with is offering vCIO (Virtual Chief Information Officer) services. This service is high level, and the security consultant works with and reports only to the CEO or Business owner; rather than lower management or other supervisors. What they find can and will set future policy and best practice procedures.

In Conclusion

Some of the questions listed above may have crossed your mind or gave you a reason for concern. In any event, an experienced IT Security consultant in Melbourne can discuss any additional Cybersecurity Service questions you may have.

Like this article? Check out Are We Learning Anything From All These Cyber Attacks?, Data Breaches and Credit-Card Fraud Can Destroy Your Small Business, Hacking Alert – An Employee Of Your Manufacturing Company May Be Sending Intellectual Property To a Criminal and Not Know It! to learn more.

Not just answers for personal devices, but for employee training, best practices, data backups and at times requests come in regarding their entire system infrastructure. Some of the questions are short, while others are long and well thought out, but there are times some issues are too complicated to answer without further details.

Over time many of the submissions coming through, do ask the same general questions over and over; but the request may slightly be worded each time differently. Sorting through the inquiries; we’ve rounded it down to five common questions asked, and proactive solutions to consider for prevention and protection of your company and infrastructure.

What Is The Main Cyber Security Issue Our Company Faces?

This question is common and asked a lot. The business owner usually wants a general idea of what to look out for and typically is followed up with, “How much will this cost me?”

Listed are five possible answers to the question. However, this list is not exhaustive:

  1. Not covering Cyber Security basics with staff
  2. Not clear what causes Cyber Security Risks
  3. Lack of or no ongoing information training for all employees
  4. No backup or recovery plans setup or in place
  5. Old devices or outdated infrastructure

With cyber attacks, hacking, and ransomware infections never-ending; there is no, one answer fits all. But a good starting place always begins with addressing yours and your staff’s IT security education.

How Do We Know If We Assigned Enough Resources That Addresses Cyber Security Threats?

A question like this is not going to be easy to answer quickly over the phone or through email; not without first knowing what your company has set up or allocated. Your IT security consultant would generally request a time to meet and then at the meeting ask you this: “What specifically have you done?”

Once they have reviewed all your resources allocation information, and have a complete overview of what you’ve done and assigned; then they will be able to point out areas of potential weakness needing more resources allocated or other sections where resources need trimming.

How Often Should We Change Our Passwords And Should They Be Complex?

Changing passwords often and having a mandatory complex password changing policy in place, which describes the employee’s proactive participation, should be required. As for password changing timelines, and setting compulsory password deadlines is a best practices procedure.

Depending on the consultant and their IT company’s preferred timetable guidelines they may suggest 30, 60 or 90-day intervals. Just remember Passwords, complicated or not, are not for security, only for access control; they can still get cracked.

How Do We Communicate The Risks Employees Might Cause Using Their Own Mobile Devices?

You begin the conversation pointing out; the #1 cause of a data breach is human error, but not necessarily on purpose. Today, more than ever before, employees at all levels, from entry-level to upper management, business owner to CEO, carry their mobile devices everywhere.

Cell phones, tablets, and laptops all have access to email from these devices. There is a good possibility those same devices have access to your company’s cloud services, such as Office 365. If an employee or the CEO themselves cannot tell the difference between a real or a fake email, and they logged into your system, when they click on that email, you may suffer a data breach or a ransomware attack and not know how it originated.

To reasonably address mobile device security protection with staff, it must begin with thorough education and ongoing training, strict policies regarding internet and device use in place. Every employee must clearly understand the risk of a potential cyber attack; they may cause due to their negligence with their mobile device and not adhering to standing policy.

What Does Our Company Need To Do That Guarantees Our IT Security Is Moving Forward?

Most business leaders realize there are technical details they might not know or understand. However, what they do recognize their company must never suffer from a data breach or have their system go down from a cyber attack.

From this point forward is when a Melbourne IT Cybersecurity Consultant plays a considerable role and is called in for an IT Security Consultation. Their approach will be holistic and represents a significant part; when provided with strategic IT information, they present to you to protect your business from cyber threats.

Another area IT consultants assist with is offering vCIO (Virtual Chief Information Officer) services. This service is high level, and the security consultant works with and reports only to the CEO or Business owner; rather than lower management or other supervisors. What they find can and will set future policy and best practice procedures.

In Conclusion

Some of the questions listed above may have crossed your mind or gave you a reason for concern. In any event, an experienced IT Security consultant in Melbourne can discuss any additional Cybersecurity Service questions you may have.

Like this article? Check out Are We Learning Anything From All These Cyber Attacks?, Data Breaches and Credit-Card Fraud Can Destroy Your Small Business, Hacking Alert – An Employee Of Your Manufacturing Company May Be Sending Intellectual Property To a Criminal and Not Know It! to learn more.

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