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Cyber Security Tips From The Experts: How To Protect Your Data

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StrategyDriven Article |Cyber Security Tips|Cyber Security Tips From The Experts: How To Protect Your DataAs cyberattacks are occurring more frequently, cyber security has become more of a necessity than just mere information that helps you keep your computer safe.

A wide variety of things can be done to keep your system safe from hackers and other threats, regardless of how you’re using your computer every single day. You can check this website for tips or work on your own to protect your data from hackers. This is an essential task as keeping your computer virus-free is one way to avoid cyberattacks and any other malicious programs.

What Are The Dangers Of Cyberattacks?

When it comes to how to cope with the effects of cyberattacks on your business, many companies make the mistake of assuming that it will only affect them and, then, they’ll be okay. However, the reality is that the potential scope of undesired (imprecise) consequences of cyberattacks can be considerably greater than those of an ordinary cruise missile or nuclear bomb simply because of the less certainty in their desired effects. If you’re not careful, then you could easily lose your reputation and credibility in the business community.

Reputational damage can range from a simple hit-or-miss loss of goodwill to a devastating blow, such as being blacklisted by your chosen social media platforms, being banned from online employment opportunities, and being unable to secure a job in the future. All of these are possible if you fail to take action against the attack on your business, or you try and put your own efforts in place without properly planning for the negative consequences of these attacks.

For example, if you’ve taken the time and money to build a positive online reputation for your business, then the damage may well be limited to a few negative stories in the press.

The effects of the attacks on physical and/or psychological reputations, however, can be much more damaging and can impact greatly upon the ability to attract the best candidates to your company. There are many people in the business world who are seeking work, and your reputation can literally be a determining factor as to whether or not you can secure the position you need. If your online reputation is damaged by an attack of another person or organization, this can have a far more detrimental effect on your chances at landing that new job than a hit-or-miss story in the local paper.

Additionally, having a negative reputation online may result in the inability to get a job at all in the future. You need to be very careful when it comes to the effects of these attacks because you never know what they could possibly bring.

How Can You Protect Your Data Online?

In the present day and age, there are so many people around the world who are being victimized by cyberattacks. They’ve lost their jobs, credit cards, identities, and even their lives. Having said that, it’s of the essence to protect your online data to the best of your ability.

It’s important to make sure that you’re doing everything that you can do to protect your computer from cyberattacks. The Internet has been a safe haven for hackers, but the good news is that there are many effective ways you can protect your data online. These include the following:

StrategyDriven Article |Cyber Security Tips|Cyber Security Tips From The Experts: How To Protect Your Data1.Use An Anti-Virus Program

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be tech-savvy to protect your digital files and information from cyberattacks. Merely downloading and using an anti-virus program is enough to do the trick.

The software is available for both Windows and Macintosh, and it protects your computer against worms, viruses, Trojans, and malware. You can set up an anti-virus program to protect your computers, regardless if you’re using them for work or at home.

With the number of ant-virus programs available today, choosing one can be tough. So, if this is your first time using one, make sure to read this blog and other online articles so you’ll know better what to choose.

2. Avoid Downloading From The Internet

One of the most important cyber security tips from the experts is to be aware of the dangers and risks of using the Internet and downloading software from there. For instance, if you’re not sure about the security of a certain website or program, you should never click on a link or download a file from it.

However, if you’ve already downloaded the file and are curious about the security of it, then you should run a virus scan on the file. Viruses can cause much harm to a computer. Therefore, you should always be careful of what you do and what you download while online.

3. Don’t Give Away Confidential Information

The simplest cyber security tip you can follow is that you should never give away any confidential data, such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, or passwords. Any information like the ones mentioned should be protected by a password or two, and these need to be a secret. This can be especially important if you’re more tech-savvy since you want to protect those who may be trying to get into your email or, worse, access your financial account.

The same is true for passwords that are shared with other people. There will be a lot of people out there who’ll try to break into those. You can also make sure that your system doesn’t contain any viruses, spyware, adware, or any other type of harmful software. This will help keep your computer free from any malicious elements.

4. Encrypt Information

Another important cyber security tip from the experts is that you should keep your information encrypted and safe from prying eyes. If you want to keep your information private and safe, then it should be in your best interest to encrypt your files, send them through the encrypted email, and keep them safely inside a hard drive.

Although this sounds almost too simple, it’s true that encryption is used to make certain that no one can read any of your data. You should make sure that your data is encrypted even if you’re not using a secure system. You should also make sure that it’s in a location that will be inaccessible to anyone, and that you have a backup plan in case anything happens to your computer.

5. Improve Your Password

It’s becoming a common problem among computer users to experience a sudden rise in data being sent or received over the Internet, and hackers are becoming more creative in their attacks on data. Many times, these hackers can also gain access to your network, so they can send their own data into your system as well. A hacker has many different ways of gaining access to a network, but the most common way to gain access is through the use of passwords or keylogging software.

You can prevent this from happening by using a password protection program. With password protection, it becomes impossible for a hacker to get any such information out of your system.

6. Install A Firewall

To avoid having your computer and the security system hacked, you can install a firewall. Firewalls are very effective when used together with anti-virus software to scan your network for malicious codes.

Protection is as easy as getting a firewall installed in your personal computer. This will allow you to set up a physical barrier between your computer and the Internet. When you don’t have an Internet connection, your firewall will block any hackers or outsiders from accessing your computer. This type of system is very effective because you’ll never have to worry about your personal data getting stolen. A firewall is typically installed on all new computers, or given to you when you buy one.

Firewalls don’t just stop data that’s coming into your computer from going out, but they also monitor your incoming and outgoing data. So, even if a hacker was able to bypass the firewall on your network, they won’t be able to get any information at all out of your system.

There are many different types of firewalls that you can choose from, but they all work in a similar fashion. When a hacker tries to access a computer, the system will detect that they’ve done so and will immediately close the window to prevent them from accessing your system any further. By doing this, your computer is now protected. The firewall is designed to prevent the use of unauthorized software, which can cause a number of problems if a hacker manages to get their way past your firewall.

7. Back Up Your Data

You should have a few different types of backup to protect your data in case something happens. For example, you can get a hard drive recovery system in case your computer fails because of a virus or any other security-related issue.

Another important thing you should have is a backup application that can be used in the event of a computer crash, as well as a reliable firewall that protects your system from outside sources. The most important thing is to have a complete set of software in place that you can use in the event of a failure.

StrategyDriven Article |Cyber Security Tips|Cyber Security Tips From The Experts: How To Protect Your Data8. Scan Your Computer Regularly

If you want to stay safe from cyberattacks, make sure to scan your computer regularly for errors and viruses, which may have occurred during the past. The software that you use to scan your system for these errors will work with the Windows registry, which will help identify the errors that have occurred in order to remove them. Once these errors have been removed from, your PC should run smoothly and without any glitches

However, it’s important to ensure that you’re running the correct version of the software so that your machine can be identified as being fully functional before attempting any further steps.

9. Avoid Visiting Unknown Sites

There are many different ways your data can be stolen from your computer, such as through phishing. A phishing scam is when someone uses your personal details in order to try and sell to another company. They may ask you for your bank account number, social security number, and other important information. If they’re successful in obtaining these pieces of information from you, then they’ll use these to either gain access to your bank account or make purchases.

In order to protect your data from cyberattacks, you should try and keep your computer running as fast as possible. You should also try to stay away from unknown websites. When visiting unknown sites, it would be very easy for malicious programs to steal your information. By avoiding the use of these types of sites, you’re giving yourself much better protection against phishing scams.

10. Work With A Professional

The best way to secure data storage system or vital information online is by hiring a computer security professional to look into the matter on your behalf. It would be much better if you would hire an experienced one to do the job for you.

While there are plenty of them who are not very efficient and are only concerned with their own profits, there are also many out there who are actually more efficient and provide better protection than the rest of the companies. Investing in trained and experienced computer system professionals is a cost-effective move for businesses, especially if you’re a novice to cyber security.

The professionals know what they’re doing, and you can be sure that they can provide the maximum protection that you could ever hope for. It’s just that most business owners aren’t aware that this kind of service is actually available today.

Knowledge Is Power

The Internet has become an integral part of people’s daily lives, and everyone uses it to communicate, research, and work. However, the fact is that the Internet is not safe enough to keep your data secure at all times. If someone hacks into a network you have, they can gain access to all your financial and personal information.

Make sure that none of these mishaps happen by using the tips in this article. As long as implemented regularly, these tips are enough for you to enjoy the World Wide Web without compromising your safety and identity!

Office 365 phishing: the latest scams your employees need to know about

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Office 365 Phishing|Office 365 phishing: the latest scams your employees need to know aboutMicrosoft’s Office 365 is often targeted by scammers and cybercriminals. This is a major problem, as Office 365 is one of the most widely used software suites by businesses around the world – undoubtedly part of the reason that it is so often under attack.

Despite the fact that the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has made a concerted effort to implore system admins to implement stronger cybersecurity practice, Office 365 is still exceptionally vulnerable. In fact, there is damning evidence from Microsoft itself about the security practice of its users.

Through a security dashboard available to Office 365 administrators, users are given a ‘security score’ to indicate the strength of their defences and security processes. The maximum score is 707, and yet the average Office 365 score is just 37.

Businesses using Office 365 need to ensure that they are taking their cybersecurity extremely seriously. One of the most important ways of doing this is to provide your employees with as much information on the types of attacks they can face as possible. Some of the most common scams are phishing schemes – and these can take many forms.

Some of the Office 365 scams to look out for

Cybercriminals use a wide variety of tricks in attempting to compromise users – this can involve impersonating Microsoft or other well-known businesses. While there is an almost unlimited variation in the types of scams, some of the most widely seen include the following

  • Fake meeting requests – this type of phishing scam sends messages that spoof the name and email address of a senior executive and asks the users to reschedule a meeting, by taking part in a poll to choose the new date and time. When a user clicks on the link, they are presented with what appears to be an Office 365 login page but it is in fact a phishing site.
  • Employee pay rises – this scam uses the bait of a pay rise to convince employees to give up their Office 365 login credentials. The email contains a link to an apparent spreadsheet containing details of an employee salary increase – however, the link takes the user to a phishing site that looks like the Office 365 login page. This scam is especially effective because the login page displays the user’s email address prominently.
  • Voicemail scams – this scam makes use of a genuine audio recording that requests employees allow Microsoft access to their Office 365 account, along with an almost identical login page that actually harvests the victim’s details.
  • Content scams – it is also possible for criminals to utilise Microsoft Sway – a genuine presentation software – to create a spoofed site. This looks genuine and even experienced and knowledgeable users have been tricked into entering their details. The fact that the phishing email contains a link to a genuine Microsoft product makes it very difficult to spot this form of cybercrime.
  • Conversation hijacking – this scam sees phishers infiltrate a genuine email account using previously compromised credentials, and then insert themselves into a conversion – essentially taking on the persona of the account that they have gained access to. When another employee gets an email from this ‘trusted’ colleague, they will happily click on the links they contain, which takes them through to a spoofed site.

Admins are targeted too

It is not just general employees who are targeted with phishing scams. IT administrators are singled out by cybercriminals, as their accounts typically have greater privileges and access to more company data. With access to an admin account, criminals can carry out extremely effective attacks against other members of the organisation by creating new accounts.

Administrators in Office 365 typically have access to all of the email accounts on the domain, which may allow cybercriminals to take over those accounts or retrieve emails from them.

How to improve your Office 365 security

Of course, improving employee knowledge is a vital way to reduce the effectiveness of phishing attacks. But it is also important to take a multi-layered approach to Office 365 security and put additional defences in place in order to mitigate the potential damage of an attack.

There are various steps that businesses can take such as enforce multi-factor authentication as a part of account access, as well as ensuring that administrators have a separate account for day-to-day access and only use the admin account when necessary.

It is almost important to invest in proactive monitoring of your network in order to detect any malware or unusual activity. The earlier that any suspicious activity is detected, the sooner it can be acted upon. This reduces the window of opportunity for a cybercriminal to achieve his or her intended goal.