Cybercriminals have taken advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic and there is a surge in cybercrime on businesses and individuals. As per reports phishing scams, malware, malicious domains linked to Covid -19 have impacted businesses and individuals.
To ensure online safety and stay safe from cyber frauds, we need to follow the necessary guidelines in our day to day operations. Let us have a look at all such tips in detail.
Keep Your Business Safe From Cybercriminals Amidst Pandemic
1. Keeping the devices up to date to ensure added security
Turn on the automatic security updates to experience the latest security fixes as and when necessary. You need to install and configure an antivirus solution configured with the firewall for the best system protection. All these three including the automatic updates, antivirus, and firewall needs to be there within the system to stay safe from fraudulent activities. Apply them to the networking devices to provide an equal amount of security to all the configured devices.
Configure the Wi-Fi access points so that the unknown person needs to enter the password to get access to the network.
Top Cybersecurity Tips for Small Business
2. Securing the digital identity
In the virtual realm, we need to focus on strengthening our digital identity against hackers. To ensure the same, set up strong passwords, biometric identification (if possible), and enable multi-factor authentication.
You need to be attentive during online chats and video conferencing. Avoid permitting access to unknown sources, preserve the chats, and also avoid the unnecessary recording of the calls. Obscure your location by using background images and enable the blur features.
3. Utilizing the centralized solution for information storage
Either you are working remotely, or managing your small organization with a few people, must ensure the centralized storage of the information. You should avoid local storage of data and information, and let your employees, or teammates know about the benefits of such storage.
This form of storage is mostly recommended in case you prefer the cloud or server storage option. The major drawback of storing the information locally comes during the major loss of data due to any of the unwanted situation, or in case the company gets compromised.
The valuable documents remain safe with the firewall attached to the centralized storage system.
4. Securing the wireless network of your home and office
Strengthening the wireless network in the home and office is another vital factor to keep in mind. The enhancement of the security level can be achieved keeping in view several points like selecting a strong password with a sufficient combination of letters, numbers, and special characters. Moreover, you need to regularly update the SSID and make it difficult to analyze.
Adding more to the functionality, activate the network encryption ensuring limit access to the particular MAC addresses, and updating the firmware regularly by visiting the router setting page.
5. Being aware of the phishing and identity scams
Consumers need to think twice before clicking on the suspicious links either within the emails, SMS, or WhatsApp messaging services. The links and the associated images seem similar to the original source, but they may turn out to be fraudulent and thereby result in financial loss.
Avoid clicking the links, and downloading suspicious attachments as they contain the malware. Moreover, professional scammers can lock down your device by asking for some unique codes sent via the messages to your device. For such an act, the ransomware gets planted in by them.
6. Privacy protection by limiting the data usage
Review your privacy settings regularly as spending time online can result in a loss of privacy. Also, review the settings and limit the data that Google is collecting. Switch off sharing of the location information and the history of the searches that you have made during visiting websites.
The tech giants including Facebook and Google result in the unparallel tracking of our online lives. It is now the time to opt for the best alternatives to Facebook. Following such loopholes, one of the WhatsApp alternatives titled ‘Signal App’ is gaining worldwide popularity. The app is secured with end-to-end encryption followed by the least storage of metadata.
7. Least data exposure by limiting the accounts
You don’t need to open multiple accounts for emails and subscribe to a number of apps and websites. Try to limit and deactivate the accounts from unwanted and unused sources. These will help you limiting global data exposure and hacking.
The above mentioned are essential points of facts to ensure high-end security from cyber threats. The strategies are mandatory to follow while accessing online sources via home or office. Cybercrime, cyberthreats, and cybercriminals will exist, you need to be cautious.