See Yourself in Cyber – Cybersecurity Awareness Month

As vital information is increasingly exchanged on networking platforms, data breaches have emerged as a major threat to businesses of all sizes. In fact, 39% of UK businesses have been the target of a cyber-attack in the last year. Furthermore, one out of every five breaches was a more sophisticated type, such as a denial of service, malware, or ransomware attack. Businesses must be aware of the significant risk that ransomware poses to company data, as well as the vulnerabilities that expose customer, end-user, business partner, and employee data.

Where many cybersecurity experts have proposed methods to address this phenomenon, the solutions are frequently isolated in their actions, and their overall impact is weaker than a comprehensive strategy. The importance of a proactive strategy cannot be understated, especially when considering the ongoing, rapidly evolving nature of ransomware. Simply put, ransomware has the potential to destroy a business. Even a single day of being unable to access critical files due to malware will have an impact on revenue, with cybercrimes estimated to have a cost of $10.6 trillion annually by 2025. However, given that most victims are offline for at least a week, if not months, the losses can be significant. System downtime is caused not only by ransomware but also by the time and effort required to clean up and restore networks.

Limiting Administrator Access

Users with administrator privileges for operating systems and applications can make substantial modifications to their setup and operations, circumvent crucial security settings, and access sensitive data. Administrators have equivalent abilities for a full network domain, which often includes all workstations and servers on a network. The correct method to limit administrative privileges is to identify actions that require administrative privileges to be done and confirm which staff members are essential and authorised to carry out those tasks as part of their responsibilities. Furthermore, it is prudent to create separate attributable accounts for administrative staff members, ensuring that their accounts have the least amount of privileges required to carry out their duties and evaluating staff members' requirements to have a privileged login frequently.

32% Of companies experienced the wrong users having privileged access, and 25% experiencing problems with unauthorized users. Restricting administrator access makes it more difficult for malicious programmes from an attacker to increase privileges, propagate to other hosts, disguise their presence, persist after a reboot, collect sensitive information, or resist removal attempts. The majority of cyberattacks occur outside of office hours. It gives attackers sufficient time to manoeuvre around without being discovered. Limit login times per profile. Some system administrators may require access 24 hours a day, seven days a week, although many administrators merely check in once a week to obtain a report. Limit their Active Directory login times. Employees are the company's first line of defence. Employing the least privilege in your organisation puts IT and administrators in control, reducing both inadvertent and intentional corruptible actions from users.

Implementing Allowlisting Solution

An allowlist is a list of individuals, companies, or services that should have access to the data they require. Allowlists are comparable to VIP guest lists. Individuals on a VIP guest list will have no problem getting into the event because their presence is expected. The same is true for allowlists. Anyone on the allowlist may easily access the services they require without having to constantly check and change their permissions. VIPs in computing are programmes and applications. To safeguard programmes and applications in the cloud, the firewall is an organisation's closest friend. Allowing certain communication ports will allow them to conduct their business without being disrupted by the system.

Application allowisting prevents all apps from executing unless those are expressly permitted. Untrusted software, such as ransomware, will be automatically blocked. Allowinglisting an IP address entails just providing access to specified hardware, such as desktop computers. Allowlisted devices are also permitted by organisations to create remote connections for files and applications. If a company's network employs cloud servers, IP allowlisting is essential. Keeping an approved email allowlist up to date will help protect organisations from email attacks, as a recent report shows 32% of breaches involve phishing attacks, and 78% of cyber-espionage incidents are enabled by phishing. To strengthen security against cyberattacks, specific email addresses can be assigned to a trusted status, preventing hackers from accessing accounts or engaging in harmful behaviour. Allowlisting apps assist organisations in managing the security risks connected with software applications. Organisations determine which apps are permitted on a computer system, which safeguards the system from malicious content.

Protection through Network Access Control

Businesses must ensure they have the capabilities to increase network security as the number of devices accessing networks grows rapidly. Network Access Control (NAC) gives organisations complete control over network traffic, hence protecting assets. Network access control, also known as network admission control, is a technique for improving the security, visibility, and access management of a private network. It restricts network resources to endpoint devices and users that adhere to a predefined security policy. With security enforcement policies and system authentication techniques, the NAC may also provide endpoint security protection such as antivirus software, firewalls, and vulnerability assessments.

NAC is crucial for modern enterprises because it enables them to monitor the devices and users, both authorised and unauthorised, attempting to access the network. Unauthorized users include cybercriminals, hackers, and data thieves, as well as other negative entities that must be kept out. However, corporations must also serve as gatekeepers for authorised users, especially since remote work has increased the average cost of a data breach by $137,000. This is especially true for businesses that enable non-corporate devices such as mobile phones, laptops, and tablets to connect to the workplace network, or for enterprises that allow staff working in the office to utilise personal devices. Both circumstances pose security threats, necessitating organisations' attention to network security.

Cybersecurity is a Subject that Requires Logic, Knowledge and Commitment

Ransomware attacks may have a significant impact on business operations and leave enterprises without the data they require to function and offer mission-critical services. The economic and reputational costs of ransomware events have proven difficult for enterprises large and small throughout the initial breach and, at times, extended recovery. It seems obvious that the best approach to respond to a ransomware assault is to prevent one from occurring in the first place. Aside from that, ensuring that essential data is backed up and inaccessible by a ransomware outbreak will ensure that organisational downtime and data loss are low to none if an organisation ever falls victim to an assault.