Cybersecurity Toolkit

When I was in my early 20’s, my dad gave me my first set of tools. Included in the little case were a few screwdrivers, a brand new tape measure, some crescent wrenches, a hammer and a small level. He tends to worry a lot, but always made sure I was exposed to a variety of emergency situations that required me to participate hands-on. I know that him giving me these tools was his way of telling me that he was confident I had the skills to solve problems and fix most things myself (of course, I knew that he would be there to help me fix the things that were way out of my skillset).

“I’d rather have the toolkit and not need it, than need it and not have it.”

In life, we are faced with many situations.  While a physical toolbox may not always be practical, most problems can be solved with the correct metaphorical tools. Though I’m not your parent, I do want to give you a proverbial ‘box of tools’ to help boost your cyber security!

1. Continuous Dark Web Monitoring: The dark web is not a place you want to see your personal information. The deep web is the segment of the internet where cybercriminals sell email address and password combinations, banking info, etc, – and the dark web is another monster itself. Dark Web Monitoring lets you receive alerts when any of your information surfaces in this criminal part of the internet so that you can change passwords and back data up before someone tries to attack- which can protect you from identity theft and worse.
2. Simulated Phishing: A large chunk of breaches happen because someone clicked a phishing link. There’s no such thing as too much protection in this area. Phishing simulations teach you and your team to identify phishing schemes by sending you fake phishing emails. These ‘training emails’ will look legitimate, and if you fall for them, you will receive a prompt to brush up on your training. I strongly encourage you to congratulate anyone who passes this exercise as well.
   

3. Email Analysis Tool: One of the most widely used scams on the internet is a phishing attack – and if you’re not constantly on the lookout, it can be difficult to catch. However, if you have a special tool called an email analysis tool, you can click a button to analyze suspicious emails. This will let you know if the message has suspicious qualities, and exactly what those are. This tool also helps you identify later emails and will save you and your IT people some time and grief, while boosting your power to stop criminals.
   

4. Weekly Micro Training Videos: Just as healthcare and dental professionals receive regular training on the industry’s latest science and technology, you and your employees should receive regular cybersecurity training. Annual training is well and good, however, most of us tend to forget things that we learned in a seminar/webinar 6 months ago! Weekly refresher videos (less than 5 minutes long) are a great way to quickly and easily keep important cybersecurity information on the top of your mind, and they can be sent straight to your team’s inboxes!
   

5. Gamification & Employee Engagement: I’m willing to bet you’re thinking that there is NO WAY you are going to get your employees or co-workers to participate in any of this. They don’t have the time, and you aren’t interested in nagging them to get it done. One of the best ways to ensure success is to put gamification and employee engagement into a training program. Offering things like small coffee gift cards for successfully avoiding simulated phishing emails, a raffle ticket for every week they complete the micro training on time, etc. You don’t have to make it complicated or time consuming – but make it fun! Research is varied on the exact numbers, but one thing is consistent across the board – gamification leads to retention in learning and increased participation.

6. Simplified Management: Putting together training programs can sound like the stuff nightmares are made of, as can figuring out how to track who has done what. But finding the right cybersecurity products and managed service provider can help you sleep soundly at night. The right program will do all the heavy lifting for you and simplifies the metrics/stats into one easy-to-understand place. You won’t have to interpret data or feel overwhelmed at the information in front of you and will be easily able to tell who is helping with security and who needs a little more training.
   

7. Security Risk Assessment: When your car is acting up, you take it to the shop. How does the mechanic know what is wrong? Aside from looking at the symptoms, he often uses a code reader to see where the problem is occurring. Doctors do the same thing except they use lab work to help figure out what’s wrong. You can’t fix a problem if you don’t know where it’s occurring, which is why we recommend doing a Security Risk Assessment. This is the technology world’s equivalent of preliminary lab work and exams at the doctor’s office. It will tell you where your security holes are, and how to fix them.

These tools will help keep your business from falling victim to a not-so-friendly cyber villain.

One thing my dad taught me was to expect the unexpected: life can strike at any time and we never know what it will throw at us. That is exactly why he gave me a toolbox: he has always believed in being as prepared as you can in life. He used to tell me, “I’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.”

All of these tools will help you protect yourself when a cyber criminal attempts to take you on an unfortunate ride of a lifetime. These tools will help keep your business from falling victim to your not-so-friendly cyber villain.

The best part: you don’t need to go prowling the internet or yellow pages searching high and low to find someone that has the right toolbox.  We have one ready for you and all you have to do is decide to use it! We do the ‘heavy lifting’ so you don’t have to worry about all that techy stuff and can focus on doing what you do best.

Contact tech.support@actiondatatel.com or call 541-494-2099 to learn how your company get can the jump on cyber criminals with one toolkit that’s automated, ongoing and easy to use!