According to Statista data, in 2021, US citizens lost $4 billion due to cybercrimes. At the same time, there is a constant increase in losses associated with cybercrimes according to Amount of monetary damage caused by reported cyber crime to the IC3 from 2001 to 2020.
These figures clearly show that every year the harm from cybercrime increases, and victims lose more and more large sums. Criminals are becoming more sophisticated, using both modern technology and social engineering to deceive their victims.
Taking into account the ever-increasing scale of the problem of cyber threats, the best option is to prevent the problem rather than to solve the consequences of hacking and the loss of large funds.
Let's look at the important steps that will help your business to protect itself from attacks by cybercriminals and various kinds of scammers on the network.
- Be ready for an attack and develop an action plan in case of an attack. If you are ready for an attack in advance and know what to do, then it will be easier for you either to stop the attack at an early stage, or to eliminate its consequences with the least damage to you.
- It is necessary to install an antivirus in advance and test all the systems of the site for cybersecurity in order to prevent a cyber attack and data theft.
- It is necessary to regularly update the operating system and all programs that you use to prevent the threat. Hackers are looking for vulnerabilities and weaknesses, and if they don't find them, they may be less interested in your site, as they will find other sites that are more vulnerable.
- Inform your employees about possible cyber threats and the ways that help prevent them. The human factor plays an important role and criminals often take advantage of human inattention and lack of control to get into the most secure and technically protected system.
- Monitor your networks regularly for abnormal activity. Any attempt at a hacker attack or data theft is associated with abnormal activity.
- Regularly audit the data. Store the most important data for you in the most secure place, using complex access passwords that should be changed regularly to increase the security level.
- Regularly check the actions of your administrators and other authorized users. The human factor has not been canceled yet. A person can be intimidated, deceived. In addition, hackers often use social engineering and finishing to crack the access code of administrators and substitute information, data, different content on the site and to steal data.
- Make database backups regularly. Having a backup copy will help you to quickly restore data even in the event of a hacker attack, data hacking and information theft.
- Constantly improve your security system. Hackers regularly monitor updates and use the most advanced technological innovations and hacking equipment. You should not lag behind them either. Use only licensed programs and update them regularly.
- Conduct a regular cybersecurity assessment. Don't save money on your security. Regularly contact specialized companies and check all your systems for vulnerabilities. It is better to pay a specialist in advance and eliminate cyber threats than to be subjected to a hacker attack and lose money, user data and your own reputation.
Remember that it is better to prevent a cyber threat by performing simple security measures than to solve problems related to hacking, theft of funds or data leakage later.