Every device becomes susceptible to hack vulnerability from the moment the device is connected to the internet. There’s absolutely nothing that can be done to guarantee that a device on the web will never be hacked. What can be done instead is adopting so many anti-phishing techniques for online security that hackers lose interest in your devices. The devices that offer tough challenges are the ones that are extremely time consuming to be hacked. And since there are many other easy options, hackers, most of the time, switch to the easier targets.
The techniques that should be adopted simultaneously by an organization (even the home devices) to foil hacking attempts are as follows.
Securing the Backdoor
The first security layer between the information in a system and the hackers on the internet is a strong system password. The password can be made strong in the following ways.
- Using 12-15 random characters to generate the password.
- Saving all passwords in encrypted password management apps.
- keeping the password to yourself.
- Giving access authority to relevant people only.
Next comes the more advanced version, that’s MFA (multi-factor authentication). It’s a brilliant technique especially for financial institutions. It makes the system highly capable of defending the assets from ransomware – one of the worst malware.
Three or more security layers are added on top of the password between the info in the system and the internet. Needless to say, the info can be accessed only upon the clearance of all the security layers.
Using Network Segmentation
Traditionally, companies have one main network that’s used to store the entire info. When using network segmentation, not only the information is broken down into pieces, but also many independent networks are made instead of having just one.
Each network is independent and only one bit of information is stored/network. So, even if hackers release malware by targeting employees, they cannot hack the entire organization at once. That’s because no two networks in network segmentation are connected. Thus, only that bit of information can be hacked that’s stored in the attacked network.
Practicing Cyber Hygiene
It is very important to practice clean internet practices when accessing sensitive information. Some such habits that can save your company from script kiddies as well as hackers are as follows.
- Using VPN for remote devices.
- Debugging practices.
- Patching the router.
- Installing software updates every time they are released without a fail.
In a nutshell, bear in mind that hackers do not differentiate between organizations and individual users at home. They will hack everything that’s unprotected or underprotected. If you want to not be at the receiving end, the only thing that you can do is listen to what cybersecurity experts have to say and follow their advice religiously.