Over the past few months, businesses small and large have both found themselves having to adapt their workplace methodologies. Remote working and working from home has become the ‘new normal’, with meetings held virtually and documents handed over via email rather than by hand. This proliferation of digital working has brought with it a manifold increase in opportunity for cybercriminals. These nefarious individuals and groups have not only targeted businesses, however, but establishments like hospitals as well. The World Health Organization, for example, has reported a five-fold increase in the number of cyber-attacks they’ve experienced during the COVID-19 outbreak. When it comes to who these hackers focus on, they don’t discriminate. With that in mind, it’s imperative that the cybersecurity solutions you utilise are watertight. The team at Impress Solutions, providers of bespoke cybersecurity packages, wanted to explain what you should look for when choosing your security.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
The main benefit of a multi-factor authentication setup is that it allows you to ensure that people trying to access your systems really are who they say they are. To put it another way, any place that your company can sure up its IT systems with more ‘layers’, it should. After all, the more armoured you are, the harder it becomes for cybercriminals to access your systems. Usually taking the form of a two-step authentication (though you can increase the number of steps for even greater security), the second step normally manifests itself as a unique SMS code sent to an approved user’s phone number, for example.
MFA setups are also one of the easiest workarounds for poor password etiquette. In spite of being told the importance of varied, more complex passwords, many company employees still utilise easy-to-guess passwords. These subsequently place a company at more risk of brute force attacks. The additional layers that MFA systems provide easily mitigate this risk.
Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (WIPS)
Another major tick on the checklist for potential cybersecurity solutions is the presence of a strong WIPS. In layman’s terms, these systems help prevent unauthorised network access to LANs using wireless devices. These rogue access points, whether set up unknowingly by innocent employees or indeed by hackers, put your network systems under immense threat; they give cybercriminals a much easier ‘in’ with which to attack your IT systems, enabling them to attack remotely rather than from having to be physically within a company’s building. WIPS help establish managed access point lists and pinpoint any threatening rogue access points. A high-quality WIPS package will also be able to detect other cyberattack threats, including:
- Denial Of Service (DOS) attacks
- Honeypot attacks
- MAC spoofing
Here at Impress Solutions, we’re partnered with WatchGuard, whose software offers both MFA and patented WIPS technology for maximum business security.
Anti-Ransomware Software
Given that ransomware is taking up an increasingly large proportion of reported cyber-attacks, protecting yourself from its dangers is becoming correspondingly important. The fiscal and reputational damage caused by an insidious ransomware attack can be hard to recover from. A proactive approach is needed, therefore, tackling threats as early as possible. Quality anti-ransomware packages will include the ability to disrupt the entire ransomware attack chain and the capacity to rollback unauthorised encryptions before they have the chance to ‘root’ themselves within your system. Furthermore, some of the most innovative anti-ransomware brands feature innovative deep-learning capabilities. This artificial intelligence helps prevent attacks in the first instance, and as the old adage goes – prevention is always better than cure.
Look For The Multi-Faceted
Whilst singular security solutions provide protection, they don’t provide as much protection as a software that elicits the use of several of the features listed above. In other words, having some protection is obviously preferable to not having any, however, the more you can have, the better. All of the cybersecurity solutions offered by Impress Solutions are holistic in their approach to IT protection, covering a company from as many different threat angles as possible.
Not only does securing quality cybersecurity software protect your business in a tangible way, but it also benefits your company in less obvious ways, as well. It gives you confidence, safe in the knowledge that you can press onwards as a venture without always having to look at the bogey man over your shoulder. So, if you’d like to find out more about our cybersecurity solutions, then get in touch! Contact Impress Solutions today on 01708 759 760.
