Do you know Canada is the fourth-hardest hit country by cyber-attacks last year?

and, How many times have you heard that a company incurred huge losses because of a loophole in its cybersecurity policies?

Most of these risks are the result of human errors and a lack of management involvement. Today, it has become a necessity for businesses to be present online. This means businesses are more exposed than ever to a potential hacker or data loss.

In this article, we discuss the top 5 cybersecurity mistakes that a company can avoid to safeguard its sensitive information from potential cyber crimes.

What is Cyber Security?

Cyber Security refers to a process of restricting digital access from unauthorized users to safeguard business networks, systems, and sensitive information.

AntiViruses, firewalls, and Antispyware Programs are a few examples of Cyber security protocols.

Types of Cyber Securities:

  • Critical Infrastructure Security: It refers to safeguarding the IT support systems, business networks, passwords, login credentials, or financial information of a company.
  • Cloud Security: Protects the information stored online in a digital format like Cloud Computing.
  • Network Security: Protects Wifis, and business networks.
  • Internet Of Things (IoT) Security: IoT security refers to connected devices, auto augmentation, and IPS as a virtual patch to prevent exploits and digital attacks.
  • Endpoint Security: Protecting digital gadgets like laptops. PCs, and personal computers from hackers. For example- Endpoint Detection and Response Solutions (EDR).

Types of Cyber Threats

There are various categories of cyber risks that an organization have to concern about. According to research, it is estimated that cyber crimes cost around $3 million to businesses every minute.

  • Malware: The evolution of malware has resulted in several cyber crimes. Hackers try to develop the latest techniques that can bypass the security protocols resulting in a cyber attack. Detecting the malware is not enough today. Regular mitigation & monitoring of the risks is essential to protect the networks & systems.
  • Phishing: You might have seen an anonymous link or an attachment that says to download it. Such tricks are called phishing which is used by data thieves to get into your systems.
  • Ransome: It is malicious software that asks for money by blocking the files & access to the systems. Paying the amount does not guarantee that the files would be restored or work properly.
  • Password Attacks: Hackers use various password cracking tools to crack organizations’ passwords to get access to their data.
  • Insider Threats: These refer to the risks from an insider of a business who knows everything about the organization. Access to passwords and financial, or sensitive information are some of the common examples of such threats.
  • Cryptojacking: It takes place when a person cracks into a person’s computer for mining cryptocurrencies.

Top 5 Cyber Security Mistakes

  1. Giving Access to sensitive information to everyone: One of the common mistakes organizations do is to provide access to important information to all the employees. Sometimes people take advantage of this information or unintentionally give rise to cyber attacks.


    Limit Access:
    To avoid this, organizations need to keep access to such data to themselves or use the rule of least privilege, where employees are given the lowest possible access to the software to complete their daily tasks.

  1. Not Conducting Annual IT Audits: To keep a check on the functioning of the computer systems, an annual IT audit is very essential. Some software needs to be updated after a while, or reinstall before its expiration. IT audits help eliminate any unnecessary risk that can open the doors for cybercrime.
  1. Not Updating Softwares Timely: This is the most common mistake that organizations do. This often opens the doors to data mining. Hackers spend a lot of time searching the security breaches that can help them to get access to the company system.

    Monitoring Updates: Companies can train their IT staff or employees to keep a check on the regular updates, this would help in eliminating the duplication of efforts and would save the companies time & cost.
  1. Not Updating Cybersecurity Policies: The introduction of new software and tools has made our lives easier but has also increased the risks of cyber attacks. They need to reevaluate their policies after a while to tackle data theft. For example- changing passwords every quarter, enforcing 2-step authorization, reducing activity logout timings, etc.
  1. Hiring inexperienced IT professionals: Organizations need to hire an IT professional who knows how to tackle the risks. Many of them hire the wrong professional that only setups the basic security but fails to integrate the proper protocols. This results in heavy losses financially as well as to the company’s goodwill.

    Hire Certified IT professionals: To rectify such errors, companies need to hire a person who has the expertise, experience, and technical skills in IT. A good consultant helps in setting up the security protocols while minimizing the expenses with their excellent budget management skills.

Stay tuned to Inthera Consulting’s weekly blogs to read such interesting topics.

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