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How to Protect Your Transportation Business

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Protect Your Transportation Business|How to Protect Your Transportation BusinessRunning a transportation business presents unique challenges that are not faced by other industries. By its very nature, a transportation business rarely has all of its inventory in one place. When your assets and inventory are always on the move, security becomes an increased priority.

To be successful and to run efficiently, logistics businesses need to find ways that enable them to overcome the challenge of protecting assets when they are out on the road. Managing a fleet of vehicles and ensuring that goods are transported safely and within the designated timescales presents an extra set of issues to manage.

Many issues that are faced by transportation companies are a result of external factors that are beyond the company’s control. These external factors include problems such as traffic delays holding vehicles up and causing them to miss delivery deadlines, theft from trucks resulting in lost inventory, mechanical issues with trucks, along with driver absence, and illness. Despite these issues being outside the business’ control, they still reflect negatively on the company. Missed delivery deadlines, and damaged or lost inventory can result in damage to business relationships as well as the loss of reputation.

As there are so many factors out of the control of transportation businesses, companies must do all that they can to eliminate risks and potential issues that could impact the business. This means that action must be taken to carefully manage parts of the company that can be controlled to help protect it from external factors and ensure that it runs as efficiently as possible.

Staff

Employees are a business’s most significant asset, and the success of any business is very much in the hands of the staff that works there. Companies require teams that will perform their roles to the best of their ability, as well as staff members that are consistently productive and can be relied upon to be at work on the times and days that they should be there.

For transportation companies, finding the right staff is especially important. When employees are out on the road, you need to know that they can be trusted to carry out their job efficiently and to represent your business appropriately when dealing with clients.

Your recruitment process will need to be robust so that you can attract the right employees in the first place. Carrying out thorough pre-employment checks is vital so that you know that potential staff members are capable of carrying out their role responsibly, and can be trusted with being out on the road alone and with high-value stock on board the truck. You will need to make sure that their credentials check out, and it is also wise to get several references from past employers too.

Once you have found staff members that are right for your business, make sure that they receive in-depth training on how to perform their role, and those new employees aren’t made to get out onto the road alone before they are ready. A lack of appropriate training can lead to high staff turnover as employees that are not equipped to perform their jobs well will often experience low morale at work. Therefore, it is in your best interest as an employer to provide your recruits with high-quality training so that new staff members are fully equipped with the skills and knowledge to do the job well.

Technology

All businesses operating nowadays rely on technology to some extent. However, for a logistics company, technology is an essential tool to stay connected with drivers and keep the business operation running smoothly.

Using truck tracking software systems can completely transform the way a logistics business operates. Using the software will enable the company to keep track of their equipment and inventory no matter where it is. This kind of data is vital to the smooth running of the operation. Being able to track your vehicles and inventory means that you can manage schedules effectively, and account for all of your equipment. In the unfortunate event that a truck was stolen, you would be able to locate it immediately thanks to your tracking capabilities.

From staying up to date with the progress of your delivery schedule through to detecting unauthorized use of your vehicles, using a tracking system can help you to manage a range of potential issues as well as providing valuable insights.

StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Protect Your Transportation Business|How to Protect Your Transportation BusinessSecurity

Nowadays, businesses need to consider two areas of security when planning how to protect their companies best. Cybersecurity and the risk of data breaches make protecting computer systems a high priority for many businesses. However, physical security should never be overlooked.

Small businesses, in particular, are often targeted by cybercriminals. This is because many small businesses fail to make cybersecurity a high priority, and are then left vulnerable to hackers. Ensuring that your company data is protected is vital. Otherwise, you are at risk of exposing both your client’s information and sensitive business information too.

Keeping your systems up to date with the latest security software to protect them from viruses can help. However, to further minimize the chances of a data breach, it is crucial to train your staff so that they can also help prevent data breaches from happening. Data breaches often occur as a result of human error. Make sure that everyone is aware that they shouldn’t share passwords, and should only have access to systems that they need to use. Staff should also take care not to click open suspicious emails, as these could potentially be phishing attacks.

Along with staying vigilant to the threat of a cyberattack, your business will also need to operate rigorous physical security measures too. High-value vehicles and inventory, make transportation businesses appealing to criminals, so it is essential to have intruder alarms and CCTV installed. Ensuring that all visitors to your business need to be signed in is crucial, too, to prevent opportunistic thieves from striking. Having security guards patrolling the premises is vital so that any potential security breaches can be dealt with immediately.

Stay Secure: How to Do an IT Risk Assessment

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |IT Risk Assessment|Stay Secure: How to Do an IT Risk AssessmentThere is no question that IT security is a high priority for businesses and government organizations around the world. It seems like there’s a new major story of a security breach every day.

Universities and even the U.S. Coast Guard were attacked with ransomware. You may think that your business is small so it won’t be targeted. Every organization that has a network connection is at risk of an attack.

The best way to prevent an attack is to perform an IT risk assessment. Read on to learn what a risk assessment is and how you can perform one to improve your security.

What is a Risk Assessment?

Your first question is likely to be “What is a security risk assessment?” It’s an in-depth process where you analyze your entire network and databases to determine where your systems are the most vulnerable.

That allows you to prioritize your risks and take action to secure your systems. This is an important thing to do regularly because it can save your business.

A security attack or data breach can be incredibly costly to your business. You’ll experience downtime and lost productivity. Your business will also lose public trust, which can be very difficult to regain.

Your business may be exposed to class-action lawsuits. Those are very costly and could bankrupt your business.

How to Perform an IT Risk Assessment

You don’t want to wait until your systems experience an attack to strengthen the security of your network. An IT risk assessment is a preventative measure that can help you identify your most vulnerable areas and plug up the holes in your systems, policies, and procedures.

Here are the steps you should take to perform a thorough risk assessment.

Know Your Most Vulnerable Assets

Usually, when hackers attack your systems, they want a couple of things. They want to get your most sensitive data, and they want to make money from it.

Your first step is to identify the areas that are real threats that hackers could attack. For example, databases where you store payment information needs additional security.

Intellectual property, trade secrets, confidential documents with vendors, servers, and contact information all require a high level of security.

You want to ask yourself what types of data you collect, why you collect the data, and where the data is stored.

Review Current IT Policies

Most organizations have an IT policy that governs how internal networks and devices are used by employees.
Employees are often the biggest threat to businesses because they are targets of phishing attacks. They just need to click on the wrong email to bring your systems to a halt.

Another area that needs review is mobile device usage. Many employees are mobile and conduct business at client sites and coffee shops. You need to have a strict policy to protect these devices.

For example, a part of the policy could state that they cannot use a public WiFi connection to connect to your network. Instead, they have to use a VPN at all times.

What Would Happen If…

This step isn’t very fun, but it will help you figure out the worst-case scenario if you were to experience an attack.

Think through different situations, like what would happen if you got hit with a ransomware attack. What would the consequences and the costs be to your organization?

Other situations include data loss and compliance consequences. In some cases, a data breach could violate privacy laws and regulations. That could result in major fines for your organization.

Compliance Audit

As part of your audit, you need to make sure that your organization is in compliance with various privacy and data laws.

This will vary by industry, so you need to be aware of the laws and regulations that apply to you.

Prioritize the Threats

Your next step in the risk assessment is to prioritize the threats according to the cost to your business.
You want to have three levels of danger to your business – high risk, medium, and low risk.

For example, a denial of service attack would be detrimental to your business because it would bring down your servers. This would be a high-level threat.

A natural disaster could be a low-level threat if your building is far from a flood plain or is in an earthqueak-resistant building.

Create an Attack Strategy

You have to develop a plan of attack to shore up the security of your systems. This will help you take care of the most critical threats first and then tackle the low-level threats.

You should have a spreadsheet or document that outlines the threat, when it needs to be complete, and who is responsible. That will keep everyone accountable.

Educate Your Team

The one thing you can do to prevent security attacks is to educate your team. Not just the IT staff, but everyone who interacts with your networks. That could be vendors, customers, or employees.

The more they understand about IT security, the less risk they become to your business. That enables them to be on the lookout for threats and bring them to your attention.

Have a Response Plan

It also helps to have a response plan in place in case the worst does happen. Your response plan is meant to take quick action to minimize the damage.

Be Smart About IT Security

If there’s one major threat to your business, it’s your IT network. Hackers will try to get into your systems and steal data, which can be sold to the highest bidder.

The best way to prevent those attacks is to do an IT risk assessment. That is an in-depth overview of your systems and networks to identify the vulnerabilities and close them before it’s too late.

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Fending of the Cybercriminals: How to Protect Your Business in the Digital Age

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Cybercriminals|Fending of the Cybercriminals: How to Protect Your Business in the Digital AgeIn the digital age of today, cybercriminals are your business’s biggest enemy. They will stop at nothing to take advantage of both your company and your clients in order to benefit themselves, regardless of the damage they cause. They’ll phish, impersonate, hack, and scam their way to financial success, without bothering to even consider the consequences of their actions.

You cannot allow these petty cybercriminals to bring down the business that you’ve worked so hard to build up. Quite simply, you have to resolve to fend them off at all costs. To find out how that can be achieved, be sure to read on.

Know your enemy

Simply knowing your enemy and getting familiar with the dangers that you face will help you to fend off cybercrime.

Some forms of cybercrime that you should definitely be aware of include:

Partner up with an anti-phishing expert

Fake websites, social media accounts, and email addresses are created by cybercriminals in order to hoodwink unsuspecting customers. Instances of this happening are referred to as phishing attacks, and they are common place on the world wide web today. Unfortunately, the bigger your business’s reputation, the greater your chances are of being targeted by a cybercriminal who specializes in this type of criminality — your company’s reputable name and extended customer base provide them with plenty of opportunities to scam their way to financial success.

Fear not, however, as you’re not alone in your fight against phishing. There are plenty of anti-phishing experts out there, and you should partner up with them if you’re serious about preventing this kind of plight before it has the chance to befall you.

FraudWatch International are one such expert that you could turn to in this instance. The anti-phishing services that they offer include:

  • 24/7 monitoring
  • Domain registration
  • Detection capabilities
  • Layered protection
  • Scanning tools
  • End-to-end solutions
  • Speedy site takedowns

Make sure your employees understand the dangers

If they remain in the dark with regards to all the digital dangers your organization faces day in, day out, your employees could inadvertently end up making it incredibly easy for cybercriminals to hack into your business.

Should your staff members access a virus-contaminated website or open up a trojan email while they are connected to your office WiFi, your whole network could be infected and your personal details could be hacked into — once they are granted access in this instance, you can be sure cybercriminals won’t leave you alone or give you back what is rightfully yours until you yield to their financial demands. For this reason, you need to ensure that the entirety of your workforce understands the severity and danger of cybercrime.

In the digital age of today, physical crime is not the only danger that you face. You also have to contend with cybercrime — fail to tackle it, and an untold amount of problems could befall your business. Take the above advice, and be sure to fend off cybercriminals before they have the opportunity to sink their claws into you.

Cyber security fatigue: what is it and how can your business avoid it?

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Cyber Security|Cyber security fatigue: what is it and how can your business avoid it?Cyber security fatigue occurs when people become overwhelmed by cyber security issues, to the point they start ignoring security best practice, treating threats less seriously, and missing important warning signs.

Unfortunately, it is still the case that humans are the weak link in cyber security – and cyber fatigue has a role to play in this. Most businesses understand that they need to provide their staff with cyber security training. Staff are, after all, an important line of defence. This is an important step in protecting against cyber fatigue, and there are others that are important too.

Cyber security fatigue can be highly damaging, as a poor cyber security culture can make businesses more vulnerable to attacks. Here are five ways to avoid cyber security fatigue.

Share the responsibilities for security

One of the most common reasons for cyber fatigue is a belief amongst employees that cyber security is the responsibility of the IT team. Cyber security is a company-wide responsibility that should be practiced from the boardroom down. If employees don’t see senior management upholding best practice, they won’t be inclined to follow.

Cyber security has become too broad for it to be left to be dealt with by a single department. Every member of your team has a role to play in helping to foster a strong security culture.

Consult with experts in cyber security

Too many organisations suffer cyber fatigue because they attempt to work with cyber technology that simply is not suitable for a business of their size – or they misunderstand the level of on-going management required for the technology to remain effective. Many security systems generate a huge number of alerts which then need to be investigated.

To help reduce cyber security fatigue, seek the advice of security experts like Apiiro before making new investments and, if required, to help manage and monitor systems. If you do not have this kind of expertise in-house then you should work with an outside agency who can provide advice, guidance, and assistance to ensure that you are making the right investments.

Provide regular training sessions

If staff are educated about good security practices but the information isn’t presented in the right way, it can lead to them feeling overwhelmed or uninterested. It is vital, then, to offer regular training sessions and to ensure that these sessions are relevant and engaging. Sessions can be ‘gamified’ and you could consider commissioning a simulated phishing assessment to see how employees respond to a real-life scenario.

It is also important to regularly review the content of these training sessions. Cybercrime is a fast-moving and evolving challenge with new issues arising all the time – your training sessions need to be up-to-date if they are going to be useful.

Regularly review your security tools and practices

“With threats continuing to grow in both volume and sophistication, performing a pentest to understand how an attacker might breach your business’ defences and the appropriate action needed to address the risk is an important part of effective cyber security.

Insecure network configurations, authentication problems, as well as flaws in application source code and logic, are just three in a long line of underlying vulnerabilities that could be exploited by criminal hackers. With your organisation’s attack surface continuing to grow, keeping out the bad guys is an uphill struggle.” Redscan, 2018 Computing Security Awards Winner

Cyber security challenges are constantly changing, with new risks evolving and others becoming less relevant. So, one of the most important ways to reduce cyber security fatigue is to know when to conduct the most relevant activities, and to ensure that your efforts remain effective.

You may also benefit from investing in new technologies that can minimise the risk of cyber fraud – reducing cyber fatigue by removing some possible attack surfaces. A great example of this is esignature software which allows for individuals to electronically sign documents, giving them authenticity and the protection of a full audit trail, making them harder to forge.

Learn from mistakes of other businesses

It is important for organisations to learn from the mistakes of others. Do not ignore reports of breaches in the news – these can be some of the most useful case studies. Should a new type of social engineering scam be reported, for instance, ensure you should train your staff about how to identify the warning signs.

When a type of attack is successful against a business then it likely to be repeated against others. This is why it is essential to raise awareness of the dangers.

Six Security Strategy Tips for Your SME

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Online Security|Six Security Strategy Tips for Your SMETo ensure that your SME is protected from security threats, there are various strategies that you can implement. Your business could suffer from financial loss if security is breached, whether it is online and computer security, through employee errors, or the security of the building in which your business is based. Staying ahead of the latest security development in your field is essential, and could help to ensure your company has a future. Here are six security strategy tips for your SME.

1. Network Security

There are an increasing amount of security threats to your business that come from the internet, and one strategy you can use to protect it is to make sure you have good network security. This means using different layers of protection, such as anti-virus software that can stop computer systems being affected by malware.

2. Password Protection

Make sure you have different passwords for the area you need to log on to online. If a hacker were able to get access to your password, then it would only be one account affected rather than the rest of them that have the same password. Change your passwords regularly, and use a combination of letters, characters, and numbers, so they are not easy to guess.

3. Updated Software

If you do not regularly update your software, it leaves them vulnerable to attack, and they are not equipped to deal with the newest forms of cyber threat. When you update, it repairs any weaknesses that hackers could use to infiltrate your systems. Sometimes it is not convenient to update, especially when you are in the middle of a task. However, it is not something that should be overlooked.

4. Don’t Click Spam Email Links

Any inbox gets its fair share of  and they are not always easy to spot. However if they come from an address that seems to have lots of letters and numbers in it or the title doesn’t look like something usually sent to your business, avoid opening. If you do have to open an uncertain email, never click on any links it contains as it could be malware.

5. Use Encryption

Encryption makes it difficult for hackers to make sense of any information they steal, as an encrypted file will look like a string of nonsensical code. This adds another level of security for your business.

6. Train Employees

If your employees use laptops or have work stored on other devices, make sure they are aware of the dos and don’ts about security. Confidential and sensitive information can be stolen if they accidentally lose their laptop, or use WiFi in public places. Keep employees up-to-date with any relevant training, and this should minimize the risk of having data stolen from your business.

Cyber-crime is increasing, so getting the right security strategies in place is essential. If sensitive data is stolen, your business could find it hard to recover. Take the right steps to avoid security threats now, and have peace of mind for the future of your company.