More and more people are spending their majority of time online. And not only for leisure activities, but also work. But like most things, the Internet has its flaws. One of them is weak security if you are using it wrong. Cyber security should be considered No 1 priority in all of the workplaces if you are planing to sustain a secure business. So here are some tips to defend yourself, your customers and your staff online.
1. Constantly update your operating systems and your software. Captain Obvious here, but it is one of the most important things to do. Many reasons to update topples down to security: various fixes and patches. IT should be a daily or weekly thing to check whether your software or your OS needs to be updated. Don’t be lazy and you won’t have to feel sorry.
2. Make sure that your wireless network is secure. You don’t want any pesky visitors in your house, so why should you invite them to your office network? Use a strong non-generic password with upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters: at least 16 characters long. If your imagination isn’t wide enough you can use Strong Random Password Generator (https://passwordsgenerator.net). Remember not to keep your passwords in plain sight where people could see it. And if you have guest accounts be sure to change the password every month or two, because their devices could remember it.
3. Set up an anti-virus, firewall, VPN and other security measures. Firewalls protect your internal networks from threats. Make sure to install them not only on your servers, but on all office computers, laptops, and mobile devices as well. Make sure your computer systems are installed with most up-to-date antivirus and anti-spyware software. I recommend Avast Pro and ESET NOD32 — don’t skimp on your security. Lastly, get a VPN. If you’re travelling and/or using a public Wi-Fi spot, you are vulnerable to all kinds of attacks — most of them even run old WEP protocol which is easily crackable. Get something like NordVPN to protect yourself with military grade security without sacrificing much speed. I even found this coupon code (USENORD60), which gets you 1 year of VPN for 60 bucks. Pretty good deal.
4. Make sure that access all of your devices is secured. Ensure that your office space is safe enough and that mobile devices, laptops and other easy to grab stuff isn’t in sight. Also always encourage your employees to lock their systems when they are off of them and always encrypt your all HDD’s or SSD’s if anything bad happens.
5. Always make back-ups of your files. RAID1 should be your friend, not your foe. Even better, get a cloud-based solution as well. Because hard drives fail, humans fail too and who knows what could happen to your precious data.
6. Educate your staff on cybersecurity and its nuances. From the most obvious ‘don’t click on suspicious links’ to ‘don’t leave your devices unattended and not locked/encrypted’. Train them to be very careful online and offline.

Well, these are my tips for cybersecurity in the workplace. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.