Cyber threats have long plagued the network and computer systems. Recent times have seen them entering the world of financial transactions as well. While individual anti-virus and malware programs are constantly being developed and updated, there are some basic strategies to keep your system protected from the ever-increasing cyber threats. These can be deployed by small businesses as well as big corporations.
Defence in Depth
The basic premise of this strategy is that every system will collapse at one point or the other. This holds true for every machine. Similarly, it applies to all electronic and digital systems despite their innate design and programming to keep cyber threats at bay. The firewalls, anti-virus, anti-malware programs and intrusion detection devices are bound to fail.
So the Defense in Depth strategy proposes more than one layer of controls to control the risks. In the event of failure of first control, the second might minimise the damage caused by various cyber threats.
This strategy can be implemented by deploying layers of cybersecurity and ensuring that your company has all the needed cyber essentials in place. How many layers should be used is entirely subjective and largely depends on the sensitivity and criticality of the system and data that is being protected.
Least Privileges
The Least Privilege system works on the assumption that every system is susceptible to being compromised in one way or the other. However, the total damage caused by the ever-increasing cyber threats can be controlled. This is how it works.
When a cyber-criminal attempt to damage a computer system, he or she tries to gain access to the rights of that system. This essentially implies that if the gained access to that account has full rights like the access to sensitive data, control over user accounts, that access has now fallen into the hands of the cyber thief.
The Least Privilege strategy tries to address this problem by creating accounts that have only the required access to the system. This bare minimum access to run the basic functions of the system mitigates the threat to system’s safety in the event of cyber-attack.
This strategy can be implemented by working with the IT department to understand and configure all the users in a manner described above. Following this strategy ensures the damage done is limited in case of cyber-threat.
Attack Surface Reduction
As the name suggests, Attack Surface Reduction attempts to control the probable ways through which a cyber-threat can compromise the health and sanctity of a computer system.
A running computer system comprises a set of installed applications, active user accounts and some running services. All of these components have some vulnerable points through which a cyber-threat permeates the system. This strategy advises limiting these entry points to only those that are deemed essential to perform the system functions.
Another critical cybersecurity essential tool lies in creating strong passwords. There is actually another term coined for this: passphrases. These are phrases unique to individuals and can be used as passwords. They are strong and definitely hard to guess.
Since any system is only as strong as its weakest link, creating a culture/habit of hard to crack passwords is a very basic yet helpful step in protecting your systems from the myriad cyber threats that keep lurking around us.
