Everyone makes foolish mistakes. You’ve done, I’ve done it, and it’s all part of being human. But if that mistake affected your IT security, consider the ramifications it could have on your organization for being careless. For instance, a computer hacked or leak of sensitive data because a password was easy to crack. Luckily, these security problems don’t have to become a common occurrence and can get fixed easily.
In no particular order, we’ve created a list of the most common IT security mistakes technicians see regularly. Also included are their recommendations to fix and avoid making the same mistakes again.
Even with all the security warnings repeated continuously, people will always choose the same or a straightforward password to remember. It could be a birth date, the word “password,” a family pet’s name or the number sequence: 1-2-3-4-5-6. Then there are other individuals, that decide they don’t want a password, or they’ll get to it later, but later never comes.
This mistake follows the previous one and makes it extremely easy for anyone to access your account or device, especially if they got their hands on your password. It is common to find a piece of paper and jot down our passwords. Or worse write it down on a sticky note and attach it to the back of your computer monitor. In all reality, why do that? It’s like you don’t have a password at all because everyone knows where you stuck it.
There continues to be this belief that antivirus software is not needed, especially for those individuals and companies that own and use Apple/Mac devices, but this is simply not true. Yes, it can be frustrating when your computer slows down while software is running.
This mistake includes opening email attachments from unknown sources or people you don’t know. Or worse responding to these individuals and sharing highly sensitive information (such as credit card numbers or passwords). When you open an email with an attachment, and you don’t know who the sender is, leaves you wide open to a malware virus or your computer hacked. Please be mindful; when sharing personal information, always remember, doing so could place you, your business, and your client’s information vulnerable to identity theft.
Eavesdropping continues to be an overlooked security issue and risk. When you get up from your computer and walk away, who has taken notice, that could potentially gain access to your account? What might happen if you forgot to close the bookmarked tabs in your browser, to step away, and on those tabs were your online banking account or your company’s bookkeeping system? With an open unlocked screen, you’ve given anyone full access.
Operating system updates and patches are crucial and vital in protecting your computer from evolving threats. Mainly, these updates and patches keep your computer healthy. Next time, before you hit the “not now” or “ask me later” button, reconsider.
It’s going to happen. Servers will fail, and computers will crash. It’s not if, but when. Not considering what a lifesaving tool, cloud computing offers, is like signing a death warrant on your files. Besides getting hacked, there are other reasons servers go down, i.e., age, fire, flooding, natural disasters are just four everyday occurrences.
Unfortunately, employees will be the most significant security threat a business faces. Most of the time is it not intentional, but human error and lack of training that usually causes the problems. It may seem convenient, but not everyone is an IT expert or specialist. IT security has many moving parts, and if one piece isn’t correctly set up, your system remains vulnerable.
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Forty-three percent of attacks are aimed at SMBs, but only 14% are prepared to defend themselves (Accenture).
The average cost of a data breach in the United States is $8.64 million, which is the highest in the world, while the most expensive sector for data breach costs is the healthcare industry, with an average of $7.13 million (IBM).
The internal team was energized. With the Level 1 work off its plate, the team turned its attention to the work that fueled company growth and gave them job satisfaction.
It takes an average of 287 days for security teams to identify and contain a data breach, according to the “Cost of a Data Breach 2021” report released by IBM and Ponemon Institute.
More than 33 billion records will be stolen by cybercriminals by 2023, an increase of 175% from 2018.
40% of businesses will incorporate the anywhere operations model to accommodate the physical and digital experiences of both customers and employees (Techvera).
The cost of cybercrime is predicted to hit $10.5 trillion by 2025, according to the latest version of the Cisco/Cybersecurity Ventures “2022 Cybersecurity Almanac.”.
The three sectors with the biggest spending on cybersecurity are banking, manufacturing, and the central/federal government, accounting for 30% of overall spending (IDC).
We did a proof of concept that met every requirement that our customer might have. In fact, we saw a substantial improvement.
We did everything that we needed to do, financially speaking. We got our invoices out to customers, we deposited checks, all the things we needed to do to keep our business running, and our customers had no idea about the tragedy. It didn’t impact them at all.
“We believe our success is due to the strength of our team, the breadth of our services, our flexibility in responding to clients, and our focus on strategic support.”