The Top 4 Computer Security & Network Vulnerabilities Affecting Your Business
Looking to protect your data at your business? Here is a list of a few top network and computer security vulnerabilities that may pose a threat to your sensitive information.
- Weak Passwords That May Fail To Brute-Force Attacks
Short, weak passwords are a major threat to your security. You need to make sure that you follow password security best practices, including:
- Requiring 10-12+ digit passwords
- Requiring the use of uppercase and lowercase letters as well as number and special symbols like !, @, #, $ etc.
- Requiring users to change their passwords every 3 months
- Restricting the use of previously-used passwords, or passwords that are only slightly modified from previous passwordsIn addition, you should consider adding 2FA (two-factor authentication) to your systems. This ensures that even if a password is exposed, hackers can’t access your network or other IT infrastructure.
- Outdated Or Unpatched Software & Operating Systems
You need to make sure that your employees and your IT team are patching and updating their computers regularly to patch up known vulnerabilities. The same is true of software for computers, IT equipment like servers, and even network equipment like routers. Always keep all of your IT systems up to date.
- Lack Of Data Backups
This is a major threat that often goes overlooked. In the event that your systems are hacked or you lose data due to equipment failure, you need to have a data backup that is ready to go, and will restore any information that you may have lost.If you don’t have backups of IT systems as well as the data on individual computers used by employees, you risk permanently losing information due to ransomware, failure of hard drives, and other such issues.
- Malware On Employee Computers
There are many different types of malware, such as keyloggers that track inputs from users, ransomware that locks down user data using encryption and demands a “ransom” for its release, and viruses that can steal data and user information directly.To protect against this, you need to use anti-malware and antivirus software on all employee computers, and create IT policies and procedures that will prevent users from browsing dangerous websites, as well as firewalls and spam filters to block “phishing” attempts.
Learn More About How To Protect Your Data From West County Computers
At West County Computers, we can assist you with IT security consulting and related computer security services, ensuring that you can protect your sensitive data and keep your IT systems secure. Contact us online now or call us at 707-360-8652 to get started.
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