Cybersecurity: best practices

Although immersed in an information system, all companies in the world exchange, with more or less recurrences, sensitive data. These exchanges may concern customers, suppliers or even employees. Espionage, data theft, fraud, malicious acts…

Hacks of this kind of data are increasingly recorded. Contrary to popular belief, this does not only concern the giants of this world. Small and medium enterprises are more likely to be targeted, due to their vulnerability.

Today, many security solutions exist to overcome this scourge and optimize the protection of personal data.

What is cybersecurity or sensitive data security?

Cybersecurity encompasses all means of protection related to the integrity of computer data. This area brings together all the laws and policies put in place, but also the concepts and security systems applied to the digital world. It is a specialized field at the heart of the digital and information professions.

This notion of cybersecurity has never been so present. The digital transformation of companies is generalizing the use of IT and connected devices. As a result, we are increasingly susceptible to computer attacks.

It is a vast field that starts from the installation of an antivirus to the configuration of hosting servers through the monitoring of datacenters around the world to protect your information assets.

To put it simply, it is a system ensuring the management of your data in the best conditions while securing them. It makes it possible to fight effectively against cybercrime, which is evolving day by day. IT security impacts all jobs related to the use of digital technology. And that's not to be taken lightly.

In France, we have the Information Systems Security Agency (ANSSI, ex-DCSSI) which is responsible for computer security against hackers, on state networks as well as private actors.

Data backup

This is an often overlooked element that should not be forgotten: Backing up your data. This is, so to speak, the basis! Set up a data backup policy within your company. It will describe the actions and the rules to be followed to all employees. This backup can be stored in different ways:

• Magnetic tape backup : An inexpensive and completely offline system, it is thus itself protected from cyberattacks.
• Backup to external hard drive : Faster than magnetic tape, but more fragile, a single disk can store all of your company's data via its network.
• Cloud Backup : Based completely online, the cloud is generally more expensive by setting up a subscription, but generally more reliable and much faster.

Firewalls

As soon as an external network comes into play, you must set up a firewall. It is your network's first line of defense against external threats. It simply acts as a data filter. It checks incoming and outgoing traffic in order to block access to possible threats.

A bit like a police roadblock on a busy road! It is especially necessary to ensure the correct configuration of it and to configure the authorizations correctly in order to reduce access and modification of the most sensitive data.

Data encryption

The encryption of data as well as connections guarantees the integrity of your customers or your collaborators. This consists of converting the data on your system so that only people with a "secret key" or password are able to decrypt it. We use an encryption key to encrypt the data, and conversely, a decryption key to read it, it's as simple as that!

It is one of the most popular and effective methods of securing data within companies. You may have noticed, but maintaining privacy has become essential on all platforms. Messaging apps like WhatsApp or even Telegram offer message encryption to increase their security. If you have opted for a data backup on a local server, it is imperative to set up this system.

Currently, many data encryption applications or software are on the market. You can also use a VPN to encrypt your connections.

Awareness

Apart from cyberattacks, committed by hackers, cybersecurity allows the installation of devices to establish standards and best practices in the use of digital technology.

The awareness work carried out with users plays a major role in security, particularly for problems of identity theft or phishing (making the victim believe that he is talking to a trusted third party to bribe him money or data.)

It is important to make teams aware of the existence of this type of attack and to inform them of good practices in dealing with these situations. Because yes, prevention is better than cure!

Added to this are certain security mechanisms better known to the general public, such as: identification processes with Captchas, sensitive data recovery devices or even constant updates of system software. Remember that your company's data, no matter how small, is worth money on the black market.

Cybersecurity is to be taken seriously, because the threats are real and numerous. The implementation of certain systems is certainly expensive, but allows to keep, in good hands, the most sensitive data of your company. Spread the word ? No one likes having their stuff snooped around, so take the right steps to ensure that no one comes digging into your data!

And remember, prevention is better than cure!