- Inadequate Cybersecurity Policies and Procedures
A poor cybersecurity policy can disrupt business continuity making a cyber-attack more likely as defensive measures aren’t in place. It can also make attacks worse as policies necessary for recovery aren’t established and ultimately impact revenue and productivity, all of which affect the bottom line.
- Lack of Security Awareness Training
Without security awareness training, employees (including your own) can fall victim to calculated attacks through social engineering, smishing (SMS texts), social media threats, and phishing emails. Cyber criminals often use various methods to gain access to your systems, sensitive data, or money.
- Lack of Multi-Factor Authentication
MFA cannot guarantee foolproof security or stop all cyberattacks. However, it can help protect high-value systems and accounts, secure email access, and limit the usefulness of stolen credentials. Most importantly, MFA adds additional layers of authentication to protect systems and combat many types of cyberattacks.
- Unpatched Software and Operating Systems
What is unpatched software? Unpatched software refers to applications or systems that contain known vulnerabilities that have not yet been addressed through the implementation of updates or patches. These vulnerabilities, if exploited, can potentially lead to a compromise of the affected system’s security.
- Weak and Reused Passwords
Password reuse not only exposes multiple accounts in the event of a breach but also makes us vulnerable to common hacking tactics and causes more headaches for computer users and IT teams when password updates are necessary.
- Poorly Configured Firewalls
Improper Configuration This can cause a drop in network performance in some cases, while in others, a firewall may fail to provide appropriate protection. According to Gartner data, misconfiguration, not weaknesses, is the source of 95% of all firewall breaches.
- Unsecured Wireless Networks
An unsecured network most often refers to a free Wi-Fi (wireless) network, like at a coffeehouse or retail store. It means there’s no special login or screening process to get on the network, which means you and anyone else can use it.
- Unencrypted Data
Unencrypted data is unprotected information that is easily readable. Unencrypted data is a high security risk because it can be intercepted during transmission. POS systems may send data from terminals around the store and receive orders from a website over the internet.
- Lack of Backup and Disaster Recovery Plans
Data loss can result in downtime and lost revenue in addition to the loss of crucial files and information. Important data can be lost because of unforeseen events like natural disasters, cyber threats, hardware failure, and human error. Without a backup strategy, recovering these can be challenging, if not impossible.
- No Security Monitoring and Reporting
Attackers can continue to damage the system because their identity and method of attacking cannot be easily determined. Without proper logging and monitoring, it becomes challenging to identify security incidents and respond quickly to mitigate them.
