Cybersecurity Do's and Don'ts

Things you should and shouldn’t be doing if you want to stay protected online. With recommendations from CISA’s Joint Cybersecurity Advisory.

In today’s heightened threat environment businesses must be more vigilant than ever. But how can someone stay vigilant when they don’t know where to begin with their security efforts? A good starting point would be to begin at the first access point – where hackers initially gain access to your systems. According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), “cyber actors routinely exploit poor security configurations (either misconfigured or left unsecured), weak controls, and other poor cyber hygiene practices to gain initial access to compromise a victim’s system.”

Attackers today are crafty, if they are wanting to access your system they will use any technique possible to hack into your system. That’s why a Cybersecurity Advisory was created. This Cybersecurity Advisory includes cybersecurity authorities of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. This joint advisory recently compiled a report of weak security practices that defenders should implement to keep their systems protected.

Cybersecurity Don’ts – You shouldn’t be doing these things if you want to protect your system.

CISA’s suggestions:

Multifactor authentication is not enforced
Incorrectly applied privileges or permissions and errors within access control lists
Software is not up to date
Use of vendor-supplied default configurations or default login usernames and passwords
Remote services, such as VPNs, lack sufficient controls to prevent unauthorized access
Strong password policies are not implemented
Cloud services are unprotected
Open ports and misconfigured services are exposed to the internet
Failure to detect or block phishing attempts
Poor endpoint detection and response

Cybersecurity Do’s – Best practices you should be implementing if you want to protect your business.

CISA’s suggestions:

Control access
Harden credentials
Establish centralized log management
Use Antivirus solutions
Employ detection tools
Operate services exposed on internet-accessible hosts with secure configurations
Keep software updated

Read CISA’s full report here.

Heightened Cyber Environment

Wondering why businesses should be concerned about cyberattacks in 2022? Breaches and ransomware are more prevalent than ever. An IBM report states that the cost of a data breach in 2021 was $4.24 million. That is the highest average total cost in the 17-year history of the IBM data breach cost report. Not to mention Russia’s invasion of Ukraine causing concern around the world with threats of impact on organizations including malicious cyber activity against the US. CISA and the Department of Homeland Security issued warnings earlier this year that “every organization in the US is at risk from cyber threats.”

This cybersecurity list should provide businesses with a starting point to know what items or responsibilities need to be handled immediately. If you need help implementing any of these practices you can trust CRI Advantage with all of your cybersecurity needs. At CRI Advantage, we provide cyber professionals that will help you identify and resolve threats so you can feel confident in your online security procedures and trust that your data is protected.

Getting started is easy. Simply book a consultation with us and we’ll review your business needs and help you identify potential cyber risks. In the meantime, download our 5 step checklist to minimize your cybersecurity risk.

Book your consultation here.