Cyberattacks, technical failures, or simple human error can creep up out of nowhere. And when they occur, businesses are often left scrambling to recover lost data. Fortunately, there are some simple adjustments businesses can make to safeguard their data and protect their operations.
Cybersecurity experts Rob Wright (Dark Reading), David Jones (Cybersecurity Dive), and Alissa Irei (TechTarget Search Security) recently came together to discuss the future of online security. Let’s take a look at their insights on major trends and new risks to help businesses better navigate the challenges on the horizon.
Strong passwords are one of the easiest and most effective ways to protect online accounts. Still, many businesses use weak or reuse credentials. Learning how to create stronger passwords can significantly lower your business’s risk without adding unnecessary complexity to your security practices.
Technology can be a game-changer for growing businesses. From speeding up workflows to helping teams collaborate more efficiently, the right tools can drive great improvements. But not every tech investment pays off, especially when businesses jump in without a clear plan.
We give our IT teams the keys to the kingdom to keep operations running. Yet, that access creates a massive blind spot. Recent trends show disgruntled tech workers bypassing the very security measures they helped build. Trust is necessary for business, but blind faith in your technical staff leaves your company wide open to attack.
Between holiday travel, borrowed laptops, and coffee-shop Wi-Fi, it’s easy to leave a tab open and dash off to the next festivity. But staying signed in to sensitive sites is like leaving gifts on the porch—someone else may walk off with them. Logging out properly keeps your accounts (and your business) off a cybercriminal’s wish list.
’Tis the season for sharing—just not company data via personal file-sync apps. If employees use personal Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, or similar accounts, your information can spread like holiday cookies at a potluck: far and wide, with no central oversight of who got what—or whether they still have it.
’Tis the season for giving—not for giving attackers easy openings. Every day, threat actors hunt for fresh holes in widely used software (Microsoft 365, Chrome, Adobe, QuickBooks, Zoom, your OS, even router firmware). When vendors release a patch, the vulnerability becomes known, and cybercriminals rush to weaponize it against anyone who delays updating.
The holiday season is all about joy, generosity, and celebration. But while your office is hanging decorations and exchanging Secret Santa gifts, cybercriminals may be slipping something far less festive into your business: Shadow IT.
Shadow IT refers to unauthorized software or services that employees download without IT approval.
As year-end projects pile up and holiday mailers fly, your copier/MFP (multifunction printer) can quietly become the Grinch of your network. These devices often store images of everything they scan/print, keep address books (sometimes with saved passwords), and ship with unchanged default admin credentials—a perfect gift for attackers.