In 2020 and beyond, security and IT professionals will discover that cybersecurity decisions have broader implications than ever before. Our lives increasingly depend on technology to work, learn, and socialize. And that dependence also makes technology a target.
The growing reliance on data when making key decisions will give malicious parties greater incentive to restrict access to large pools of data through the use of ransomware. The improvements in AI will improve cybersecurity but those same tools will also help hackers. Cost associated with deepfake scams is projected to exceed $250 million dollars in 2020. Without savvy employees and trained IT departments that understand the similarities of deepfake attaches and legacy phishing schemes, the costs of scams will continue to rise.
Back up to the cloud
As more an more companies adapt cloud based technologies, we see improvements in communications, better data storage and recovery and other business solutions. But the cloud also tends to provide a false sense of security. Just because your data is in the cloud doesn’t mean it’s safe. Backup your Office 365 emails, OneDrive and SharePoint files to the cloud using a secure back up solution. Don’t assume that your provider is already doing that because often times they’re not. True it’s a cloud based server their sitting on but that doesn’t mean it’s backed up anywhere else.
Its easy to configure a data backup solution so that every email, document or other important file is backed up and sync’d to the cloud.
Turn on 2FA Everywhere
Now matter how cautious you are an online thief might potentially gain access and steal your credentials for an important website or service, if you have 2 factor authentication you place another roadblock in his way. 2FA is an extra layer of security used to make sure that people trying to gain access to an online account are who they say they are. First, a user will enter their username and a password. Then, instead of immediately gaining access, they will be required to provide another piece of information such as a PIN or a code texted to your cell phone. This is especially important for email credentials and any kind of banking or payment service and all social media accounts. The more difficult it is for you to login and use applications or websites the more difficult it is for hackers.
Install your updates
An older version of software doesn’t have the latest security updates installed and makes your system more vulnerable to attacks. There is a theory in the IT world that some experts tend focus their energy on preventing software developers from installing updates. They believe that the best version of your OS was the one that released 3 years ago, or 5 or 10 and so on. Any problems with updates are relatively rare and generally are solved within days. You may choose to be conservative and wait a month before installing for the bugs to get worked out but take your updates, its better to be safe than sorry. Spending energy to override built-in update code is wasted time and foolish. If you want to get rid of something make it your 3rd party antivirus software. Today’s Windows PC running Windows Defender has built-in protections and so does your email provider, ISP and web browser if you do your homework.
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