5 Ways to Prepare for Cyber Attacks

Every week, we’re informed of a heightened alert about cyber attacks and to watch for any accounts being compromised.

The TapRooT® Software team is all over this.

If you’ve ever been the target of cyber attacks, you feel vulnerable and perhaps angry, all the while reporting what happened so the invasion of your privacy will stop. There’s much more you can do.

What can you do to outsmart the hackers and cyber attacks, to stay safe online?

1. Do NOT use a simple password or one that’s very common. That means no use of something simplistic such as “1234,” no addresses where you live or have lived, no use of your names, initials, birthday. In other words, don’t use the basic kind of information hackers can look up and find about you.

2. Use two-factor authentication. Use an authenticator app to log in. You may be sending a text message to confirm it’s you. Sure, it takes a few more seconds. But do you want to be safe or regretful?

3. Trust but verify. Say, you get an email that initially seems to be from someone you know but on further investigation — such as looking at the sender’s email address — you can see it’s someone looking to scam you.

4. Back up data. Did you know every time you delay updating your software, you are putting your data at risk? Those updates we receive a prompt for — they are there to patch a vulnerability we already have, to keep risk away.

5. Never click on a link in a text message or an email that is from a questionable sender. There are a lot of phishing schemes that, at first glance, seem to be from the Social Security Administration or the IRS. Delete. Delete. Delete!

TapRooT® RCA recommends the following modifications to your online behavior to reduce the possibility of cybercrime:

• Change passwords regularly; be the sole owner of your passwords; avoid using personal information in passwords; create passwords with random keyboard patterns, numbers, and special characters.
• Don’t respond to emails or messages requesting personal or financial information.
• Sending your password in an email is a definite no-no.
• Never give unauthorized persons access to business computers—at the workplace or at home.
• Don’t interact with money-sending instructions in emails.
• Always call clients and vendors to verify any financial/billing changes.
• Choose automatic software updates.
• Back up data to reduce the likelihood of ransomware attacks, and ensure that your backup management is secure. (Often, a company’s most valuable asset is its intellectual property, so a loss in this area can be disastrous.)
• Install/maintain antivirus and anti-spyware software and a firewall on all business computers.
• Secure all WiFi networks and passwords.
• Educate all employees what comprises business information, and the risks in sharing this with anyone.
• Grant administrative privileges only to trusted staff and limit employee access to data systems that are workload-critical.
• Require administrative approval and assistance in any and all downloads by employees.

Image credit: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay .

Circumstances can crop up anywhere at any time if proper and safe sequence and procedures are not planned and followed

We encourage you to learn and use the TapRooT® Root Cause Analysis System to find and fix problems. Register for one of our TapRooT® RCA courses.

We offer a basic 2-Day Course and an advanced 5-Day Course. You may also contact us about having a course at your site. If you need help, reach out at (865) 539-2139.