Insights

3 Security Best Practices to Implement in 2021

05/3/2021
Jennifer Page

While more cybersecurity threats are popping up every year, many organizations still fail to effectively identify—let alone respond to—the most important security risks. It’s essentially impossible to create a perfectly secure environment, but you can still make your workflow far safer by taking a few basic steps.

In this article, we’ll cover some key best practices for managers and organizational leaders to be aware of. Make sure to check out our website to learn how cutting-edge cloud security solutions can help you respond to the most pressing cybersecurity threats in 2021.

Start Cybersecurity Training

An organization is only as strong as its weakest link, and the vast majority of data breaches involve some kind of employee error. With that in mind, getting your entire team up to speed is one of the simplest ways to improve your cybersecurity practices.

First, make sure everyone understands basic security tactics such as using strong passwords, using a different password for each account, and enabling two-factor authentication whenever possible. From there, you can give them a chance to ask questions and make sure they understand any relevant organizational policies. You may also want to let your IT team brief your staff on any emerging threats that they should be aware of.

Communicate with Vendors and Partners

You can make changes to your organization’s internal security policies, but you have comparatively little control over how your partners and vendors manage their own cybersecurity. If they can’t give you a thorough review of their practices, you should carefully consider whether you want to continue working with them. Make sure to work with trustworthy providers for web hosting and other digital services.

Update Access Permissions

Staying on top of access permissions can be complicated, but consistent reviews will help you close loopholes more quickly. Two-factor authentication will prevent the vast majority of external access attempts, but they won’t do anything for internal threats.

If an employee no longer works for you, for example, it’s important to remove their access privileges as soon as possible. It only takes one disgruntled employee to cause a massive data breach, and these cases have affected numerous organizations and governments. Your team should only be given permission to access files on an as-needed basis, and those privileges should be revoked as soon as they’re no longer necessary.

 

Building strong cybersecurity practices takes time, but these simple tactics will go a long way toward making your organization more secure. While getting started is the hardest step, it’s important to continue auditing your company’s security policies and adapting your approach based on the latest emerging threats.