A little cyber hygiene stops big problems

T-Mobile. Colonial Pipeline. Acer. What do they all have in common aside from being multibillion dollar companies? They’ve all been hacked in recent months due to poor cyber hygiene. As Matthew Swenson, Chief of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cyber Crime Unit at Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), stressed during an August 19 GovernmentCIO webinar, “[i]f you look at the most major ransomware attacks that have occurred, basic cyber hygiene could have prevented the vast majority of them[.]”

With ransomware attacks on the rise and even nation-states getting in on the action, basic cyber hygiene is critical. Don’t wait for a cyber attacker to take advantage of flaws in your environment before you strengthen your security posture. Through good cyber hygiene practices and a proactive security posture, you can avoid a damaging cyber breach.

What is Cyber Hygiene?

Cyber hygiene means doing the little things consistently and correctly every time to minimize your threat surface. It’s taking the time to ensure you’re not providing a malicious attacker with the opportunity to take advantage of gaps and vulnerabilities in your network. This can be done by asking yourself these questions:

 

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