Why And How To Strengthen Your Cybersecurity Defenses For The Holiday Season
As the holiday season approaches, many hackers and cybercriminals are preparing their schemes to breach databases and extract money from businesses. After all, so many transactions will be made as the number of people making reservations, calling for services, or buying products dramatically increases. While everyone is busy buying gifts and celebrating with loved ones, malicious elements lie in wait to take advantage of the smallest weaknesses. How To Strengthen Cybersecurity Defenses
Unfortunately, cybersecurity threats and risks can adversely affect your business. Because of this, it’s essential to know why cyberattacks and threats surge during the holidays and what you can do to strengthen your company’s cybersecurity defenses.
Why Should You Strengthen Your Cybersecurity Defenses?
As mentioned earlier, the holiday season is considered the peak time for cybercriminals to conduct security breaches and other cyber threats against companies. But what are the specific reasons for the upshoot in cybersecurity risks during this time?
Here’s why you should strengthen your business’s cybersecurity defenses:
1. Most IT Professionals Are On Vacation
In most cases, companies only have skeleton crews that work in the office during the holiday season. This means that most IT professionals are on-leave to celebrate the holidays with their loved ones. Because of this, only a few people are available to monitor IT systems and respond to any cybersecurity threats, making businesses more vulnerable to cybercrimes.
This is why many businesses partner with providers of IT managed services like Kearns Technology and many others. Even if most in-house IT professionals are out of the office, a company’s critical assets can stay monitored.
2. Phishing Mails Are Effective
Many people tend to receive numerous promotions via emails during the holiday season. Because of this, it can be more challenging to distinguish a phishing email from a legitimate one. Also, your employees are busy and distracted during this time of the year, so they’re at risk of becoming victims of this kind of cybersecurity threat.
As such, working with a third-party IT managed service provider can be a good idea. They have the expertise, skills, and tools that can help detect cybersecurity threats during holidays. If you’re still looking for one for your business, you can visit https://www.redpointcyber.com/ and other similar websites to get more information.
3. Increased Strain On Networks
Many businesses see a bump in website traffic during the holiday season. However, despite having high traffic, it can make it more vulnerable to a cyberattack. Given the volume of traffic, cybercriminals will perform their attacks without getting noticed by your cybersecurity team.
Also, the increased strain on your network may make it more difficult for your IT professionals to mitigate the risks. Thus, you need to implement effective cybersecurity solutions for the holiday season.
Ways To Strengthen Your Cybersecurity Defenses
Now that you know the reasons for the increasing cybersecurity risks during the holiday season, it’s time to get familiar with some ways to strengthen your cybersecurity defenses. These can include:
1. Create Data Backups
If your business takes a break for the holiday season, creating data backups of your company’s data and other critical assets can be an excellent idea. When something terrible happens to your systems and network while you’re away, your data backups can save your business data and prevent them from being exploited for cybercrime activities.
Hence, using the 3-2-1 backup rule may make a lot of sense to back up your database. To safeguard your business’s essential data, you need to make three copies. The two copies will be kept in a local storage media while the remaining copy will be stored offsite. This way, you will always have access to backup data when a cyberattack happens.
2. Conduct Cybersecurity Training To Employees
Your employees are busy and distracted during the holiday season, which is why they’re susceptible to becoming victims of cyberattacks. Thus, it’s essential to conduct cybersecurity training for employees to help them prepare for the holidays.
For example, your employees should be trained on how to identify cyberthreats, including phishing emails and ransomware. They should also be taught to treat email attachments and links from unknown senders with extra caution. Lastly, they should know how to conduct IT monitoring and reporting to keep the networks and systems running perfectly.
3. Update Software And Applications
If you haven’t done it yet, update your company’s software and applications as soon as possible. In most cases, hackers are always looking for vulnerabilities they can take advantage of. Outdated software and applications can only do to prevent infiltrations.
Hence, before most of your staff goes on holiday, make sure to update your software and applications. This way, you can rest knowing your company and your assets are safe from cybersecurity threats and risks.
Conclusion How To Strengthen Cybersecurity Defenses
Many businesses are looking forward to the holiday season. From shopping for gifts to attending company parties, everyone is preoccupied. However, it can also be an opportunity for hackers to breach your networks and systems.
To keep your business safe, you must stay extra vigilant. Thankfully, by keeping the information here in mind, you can protect it from cyberattacks during everyone’s favorite time of the year.
