November started off with a great opportunity for businesses to learn more about data security, IT security, and protecting their networks from hackers. This was thanks to ThrottleNet’s very own Cybersecurity Manager Dustin Leefers who appeared on The Dave Glover Show on KNOX radio to talk about how ethical white hat hackers can help businesses protect against data breaches.
Below you can read an overview of their conversation.
How Can Ethical Hackers Promote a Business’s IT and Data Security?
Dustin started out by explaining how businesses can use ethical white hat hackers to improve the IT and data security of their networks. For clarification, white hat hackers perform security assessments for businesses to improve their IT security while black hat hackers are those who attempt to gain unauthorized access to an IT network and pose a security threat.
You can hire an ethical white hat hacking team to run a number of simulations where they try to penetrate your network using the latest techniques. This real-world test of your network’s cyber security can tell you whether there are weaknesses and what you can do about them.
A compromised network can lead to loss of sensitive company information, ransoms, and much more including sensitive company information traveling to the dark web.
Why Might a Business’s Information Be on the Dark Web?
The dark web is where hackers communicate on forums in order to share company information that they have acquired. This is also where many offer their hacking services.
If you have a serious IT security data breach where sensitive company information is stolen, it can be held for ransom with the threat of being released on these forums. It can be sold as part of a black hat hacker’s services to someone else.
What Are Some Considerations to Help Businesses Improve Internal IT Security?
Dustin outlines in the interview that businesses should consider implementing multi-layered approaches to IT security. This includes using updated antivirus, firewalls, DNS filtering, dark web monitoring, and email filtering.
Because hackers only need one point of entry to gain access to a network, it is important that your IT department has the right practices in place and are prepared to take action as soon as a red flag is raised. Managed IT services are often a great option for businesses that cannot justify employing a full in-house IT department.
Additional considerations to improve a business’s security include:
- Adequate employee training
- Random phishing drills
- Patch management
- Planning for existing cybersecurity threats
- Staying IT compliant
- Working with an IT consultant
- Using up-to-date, quality IT hardware
- Regularly backing up data
- Restricting access to information to only those who require it
How Important Is It for Businesses to Know Where Their Information Is?
Whether your business uses its own on-site servers for its network or employs a data center’s server hosting services, knowing exactly what data you have and where it makes data security and IT security easier. The Federal Trade Commission outlines 5 tips that could help you:
- Take Stock of all personal information you have stored.
- Scale down and only keep what you need.
- Lock it by protecting all company information with IT and data security practices.
- Pitch it and properly dispose of information that is no longer needed.
- Plan ahead and create a plan for possible security threats.
Contact ThrottleNet today to learn how to secure your business’s information. For Dustin Leefers’ full interview on The Dave Glover Show, click here.
