Hackers are notorious for the whole scale destruction they can cause with a simple send of an email or click of the mouse. From the wave of ransomware attacks plaguing cities across the globe, to international espionage in the form of the Stuxnet virus, hackers have been the instigators of financial loss and complete shutdowns of companies and governments with ease.

While you don’t need to appreciate their broader aims, understanding how hackers think, attack your network and extract your sensitive data are critical steps in building cyber security for your business.

In this blog we’ll take a look at some important steps to take to Beat hackers at their own game. We’ll examine the importance of identifying the cause of the problem, how to determine the best strategies to minimize and prevent cyber-attacks, and some easy to implement solutions to enhance network security.

Identifying the cause of the problem

Company networks are often to overwhelmed with the sum total of users, system admins and emails flowing in to effectively identify a security breach before it causes damage. The process must then shift to damage control, and prevention of further loss.

In practice 94% of malware is sent to secure networks via email attachments, so logical would dictate that IT teams must heavily focus their monitoring on the influx of malicious links or files downloaded.

This is where the tricky part comes in.

Identifying malware and cyber threats, based off traditional detection methods requires time and resources. To really understanding the extent of a cyber threat business must have the technological tools to detect the issue and the ability and man power to resolve it. Due to the difficulty in detecting a cyber-attack, many go unnoticed for weeks or months after the fact, causing ever greater damage to data and customer reputation.

Malware detection software still demands that employees are trained to detect suspicious emails before the malware can enter the system.

Strategies to promote cyber security

Public attention and major financial losses have forced IT team to confront the monumental undertaking of changing company culture and technologies to prevent future loss and the next big hack.

While it may be easy to say that malware chiefly comes from emails and email attachments, its significantly harder to create the framework to prevent malware attacks before they have a chance to impact your bottom line.

This is where some simple policies can revolutionize your network security.

Blending technological know-how with a clear channel of communication with your company’s IT dept gives the best chance of success.

All the technological solutions in the world can only do so much to prevent an unknowing employee from clicking a malicious link and downloading potentially destructive content. The balance of providing multiple layers of security protection as well as giving your team the understanding and tools to prevent careless mistakes can be the difference between system shut down to business as usual.

Simple steps to promote Cyber Security

1) Minimize system admins to the bare minimum. It’s nice to let Mindy from accounting change settings the one time you were out of the office and needed her assistance. However, if you intend to prioritize security, only those who must regularly access system settings and have been fully trained in security protocol should have system access.

2) Provide regular employee training. By spending the time to train the people who will be downloading and sharing data within your secure network, you stand to dramatically decrease the risk of a system breach or major hacking event.

3) Use proven legacy system to create a secure barrier. Staying on the cutting edge is key to staying ahead of hackers, however understanding tried and tested methods at securing your system cannot be abandoned. This includes the use of anti-virus software, firewalls, scheduled systems updates, and the banning of non-approved software and apps on company devices.

4) Keep up with the trends. While the use of legacy systems provides a significant layer of security it’s important to review and monitor new cyber security products, such as the new range of CDR solutions, to ensure your network has the optimal threat protection.  By integrating CDR product within your companies email application, users have an automatic sanitization and neutralization process. CDR solutions prevent malware from entering the critical infrastructure, even as an embedded file or corrupted aspect of the code within the attachment.

The best way to stay ahead of cyber-attacks is to not let them into your organization in the first place.