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A Double Firewall
IT support providers in Houston can help you install the latest firewall, antivirus, anti-malware and other digital protections for your business. However, hackers aren’t computers; they can think critically. Social engineering hacks often use a combination of technology acumen and psychological manipulation to steal information and compromise systems. Phishing scams are notorious for this. They’ll often be passed down from senior representatives of your company to management heads in departments who answer to those ranking individuals. These emails are often replete with urgent language and will ask junior employees to send attachments to a specific location. Someone who hasn’t been optimized as part of your “human firewall” may let such a scam compromise your business. However, if you have prepared them, you can reduce this risk. Several measures to help you do this are:
- Ensure your users are both trained and educated
- Design specific operation protocols and make them visible
- Understand means by which workers interface with data
- Continuously analyze and test security measures
Ensure Users Are Both Trained and Educated
IT support providers in Houston can help you train your employees in handling common situations where cybercriminal measures incorporate social engineering hacks. See, it’s not enough just to appraise your workers of the situation. Think of it like mathematics. You can memorize the quadratic formula, but unless you work through it a few times, you won’t actually know how to use it. Well, you can tell your employees what to avoid, but unless you put them into a few situations where they are able to exercise that knowledge, they won’t fully understand.
Protocols
You need to have specific email protocols in place that help safeguard communication, as well as collaboration, over the web and between departments. Your MSP can help you do this. One suggestion might be a formatting style guide for official emails. Any phishing scam that doesn’t conform to company convention can thus be immediately identified. Still, savvy hackers can “ape” such a thing, so you need your employees trained in additional measures as well. Establish protocols, and ensure that everybody not only knows them, but follows them.
Data Interface
How do your employees interface with data and one another? Do they mostly do it inter-office via desktop, or are there smartphones and tablets in the mix? Do you employ the cloud? Different operational exigencies require different operational protocols. You’ll likely want some MDM (Mobile Device Management) protocol, like multi-factor verification, in place. Additionally, access information, like passwords, should be securely designed and regularly updated.
Analyzing and Testing Security
You need to ensure that whatever measures you’ve designed work as they were intended to. You will have to upgrade them at regular intervals, and sometimes, you’ll leave a hole in protections that is invisible except through penetration testing or something of the like. Working with an MSP can increase how successful and comprehensive your security is.
Actively Safeguarding IT
Technology goal-posts are always moving down the field. IT support in Houston through ICS can help you design and test security protocols, while also assisting you in the proper education of employees for the greatest proactive security. Contact us for solutions in technology and for consultation pertaining to best IT practices.