Cyber-attacks, IT outages, and generally failing technological systems have become commonplace news items in 2024. From the Change Healthcare ransomware attack to the Microsoft’s IT outage due to CrowdStrike last week, reading about compromised data and malfunctioning digital solutions has become part of our daily routines.
With the abundance of these reports causing a somewhat desensitizing effect on people, it is more crucial now than ever for us to realize and remind ourselves of the risk posed to each and every one of us and how we can protect ourselves. In a digitally evolving world, one doesn’t have to be working in IT for a cyber-attack to raise concerns for personal safety and security.
Almost every aspect of our daily lives today is directly or indirectly connected to the internet. While there are the obvious examples of Smart Homes, Self-Driving Cars, and Social Media, our digital footprint extends beyond that to Medical Records, Insurance Details, Banking Information, and many more such services that we use on a regular basis. This dependency on tech was on clear display when half the world came to a standstill during the Microsoft outage caused by the CrowdStrike update last Friday with Banking, Transportation, and many other industries affected across multiple countries.
With more and more digital services across industries, the risk of being affected by a cybersecurity incident increases for each one of us making it all the more important to educate ourselves on the basic best practices. It is common for an average person to think of a cyber-attack the way they are often depicted in movies - an individual or a group of hackers breaking through firewalls and security systems using brute force or specialized viruses. However, more often than not cybersecurity incidents are the results of attackers taking advantage of lapses in the basics of these security systems - outdated hardware or software, weak passwords, poor / missing verification mechanisms, and so on.
As is true with much else in the world, cybersecurity practices too require a strong foundation beneath them to ensure effectiveness and efficiency. Keeping that in mind, it is important to educate ourselves on the fundamentals of cybersecurity in order to create a culture of cybersecurity awareness amongst individuals and organizations alike.
Periodic refresher sessions and drills for employees, encouragement to read up and learn about latest security trends and potential scams, and healthy discussions about personal experiences can all go a long way in creating a cyber-aware workforce. This in turn can help reduce risks that can originate from individual lapses like phishing attacks.
Another rudimentary cybersecurity practice that often gets overlooked in the grand scheme of things is effective password management. With everything being an online subscription these days, it is natural for people to use the same password across multiple services or use a template that can easily be predicted. Strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, SSOs, and other such access control mechanisms can further protect the cracks in the system.
Finally, one of the key aspects to a successful cybersecurity strategy is to focus on prevention. While it is good to be able to bounce back from a cyber event, reducing the impact before it has happened can go a long way in saving data, money, and time. Being reactive in a cyber-attack can often lead to delays in restoring services etc. A good example of this is the Change Healthcare attack where it took the organization four months before they were able to start notifying affected users to inform them of the impact.
Scheduled and regular data backups, ensuring up to date hardware & software, regular antivirus and antimalware scans, and secure channels for communication are a few examples of best practices that can help prepare and prevent attacks. Defining and maintaining a response plan as part of your cybersecurity strategy can also help establish a more proactive approach towards potential threats as it can help reduce the time taken before actionable steps are in motion.
While these fundamentals may not be sufficient for preventing or handling sophisticated cyber-attacks, they are a good starting point to ensure a strong base to build upon. Furthermore, these basics remain the same for all levels of implementation regardless of the complexity of the system or the sensitivity of the data. Whether it is a CIO trying to design your organization’s cyber defense strategy, an IT engineer implementing a digital cybersecurity solution, someone handling sensitive client information, or simply an individual trying to protect their own personal data - ensuring these basics are followed will help them all create a safer environment against cyber threats.
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