Five Ways to Prevent Cyber Crimes

The pandemic has caused numerous disruptions in our daily lives, one of which is cybercrime. According to research, there has been a significant increase in hacking and breaching data. This is primarily due to the fact that many people work remotely and use their own devices or cloud-based platforms to store data and generate output.

Cyber attacks can cause downtime and cost your company money. You must raise awareness among your team members in order to protect all of your critical data. There are numerous alarming facts that will persuade you to take immediate action to prevent cyber attacks. In 2016, 95 percent of breached records came from only three industries, according to Cybint: government, retail, and technology. Every 39 seconds, a hacker appears. The majority of attacks occur in small businesses. COVID-19 has tripled cybercrime, with 9.7 million records compromised in September 2020 alone.

There are several types of cyber attacks to be aware of, and they are as follows:

• Identity theft, fraud, extortion
• Malware, phishing, spamming, spoofing, spyware, trojans, and viruses
• Stolen hardware, such as laptops or mobile devices
• Denial-of-service and distributed denial-of-service attacks
• Breach of access
• Password sniffing
• System infiltration
• Website defacement
• Private and public Web browser exploits
• Instant messaging abuse
• Intellectual property (IP) theft or unauthorized access

How can you prevent cyber crimes?

1. Update your software and operating system

Frequently update your software and operating system to eliminate flaws in your system that are targeted by cyber attackers. 

1. Use an anti-virus

An anti-virus software is essential and one of the most effective ways to protect your systems from cyber attacks. You can immediately scan, detect, and remove threats. Anti-virus software can protect your computer from cybercrime, allowing you to continue working safely. Remember to keep your anti-virus software up to date in order to maximize its protection.

1. Train employees to prepare and prevent threats

Many employees are unaware of how critical it is to stay safe online. Whether your employees work from home or in an office, they must have a basic understanding of cybersecurity. They should be taught not to open unrecognizable emails, to create secure passwords, and to avoid using the same password for all of their accounts. Employees must strictly adhere to government and industry regulations and exercise extreme caution when collecting and storing sensitive data.

1. Conduct risk assessment as much as possible

Companies should conduct cyber risk assessments on a regular basis and never skip them. Your organization should assess whether its defenses are adequate. You can accomplish this by running tests or scenarios to determine what needs to be changed or worked on in order to close the gaps that cyber attackers can exploit. Ardent Networks offers a cyber risk assessment to help your organization in strengthening its security systems.

1. Encrypt important data

Consider encrypting the data on your devices. This ensures that if a hacker copies any of your important data, they will be unable to view the correct content stored in the file. It will be deemed ineffective. You'll need to install software that can apply this to the data you want to safeguard. This will provide you and your company with peace of mind.

Now that you have read through the type of cyber attacks and know how you can protect your devices. It is time to take the next step by checking everyone’s devices and apply all the tips in this article. 

Ardent Networks provides IT solutions to businesses of all sizes. They can handle all of your IT needs, particularly security. You have the options of Picus Security, SecureAge, Fortinet, and Cisco. Picus Security has attack simulations to detect security gaps using cutting-edge technology and a team of highly skilled professionals. SecureAge protects all systems across all industries, ensuring that your data is always secure and that your team can continue to work safely. Fortinet offers a variety of high-performance and integrated security solutions for any industry. Cisco has many options to solve your security challenges, they provide a secure firewall, web and email services. To learn more about these brands and their solutions you can view Ardent Networks' portfolio, by going to their website.