7 steps to increase your cybersecurity posture today

Conor Hogan, Global Practice Director – Data Governance, Digital Trust, BSI oversees our global practice team of data protection and privacy professionals. His team supports clients from across the world to meet the evolving challenges of privacy and data protection compliance.

Cybersecurity is more critical than ever. Though recommendations made are easy enough to understand on the surface, many can pose a challenge for various organizations to fully implement in their environments. Here are a few steps you can take today to strengthen your cybersecurity program:

  1. Mandate the use of multi-factor authentication across your organization.
  2. Change system passwords across your networks, so previously stolen credentials are useless to malicious actors. Additionally, we recommend a password manager to ensure different passwords are used for each account.
  3. Check with your cybersecurity professionals to ensure that your systems are patched and protected against all known vulnerabilities.
  4. Back up your data and ensure you have offline backups beyond the reach of malicious actors.
  5. Run exercises and drill your emergency plans to prepare to respond quickly to minimize the impact of any attack.
  6. Encrypt your data so it is inaccessible if stolen.
  7. Educate your employees on common tactics that attackers will use over email or through websites and encourage them to report if their computers or phones have shown unusual behavior.
  8. Engage proactively with your local FBI field office or CISA Regional Office to establish relationships before any cyber incidents. Please encourage your IT and Security leadership to visit the websites of CISA and the FBI, where they will find technical information and other valuable resources.

BSI is uniquely qualified to assist in implementing any of the recommendations above.

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