Cyber extortion happens, that much can never be denied, and the consequences can be devastating for those involved with it when it does. When a business is threatened by this type of criminality, they have a big decision to make:
- Do they yield to the demands of their hacker and pay them what they want?
- Do they call their bluff but run the risk of all of their all-important files being deleted when they do?
To give your business the best chance of possible of beating any cyber extortionist that may seek to threaten it in the future, you need to put safeguarding plans into place now. This entails following these six steps.
Understand the nature of your data
If you don’t understand the nature of your data, you’ll never be able to provide it with full and thorough protection. You need to know where it is kept at all times, how much of it there is, and where your weak points might be.
Always have backup files
A true cyber extortionist is somebody that won’t just threaten to delete all of your business’s data; they’ll do it. By having your data backed up safely on an external system, however, their threats won’t mean a thing. If extortion were to occur, by having back-ups, you’d be fully protected regardless of the outcome.
Ensure your employees can recognize phishing
Without training on the subject of phishing, your employees could land your business in real danger by exposing it to all manners of threats. For this reason, teaching your employees all about the extortion that they could potentially face every day, especially in regards to their emails, is essential.
Perform background checks on your employees
You never can quite tell a person’s motive for wanting to join your team, so you must perform a thorough check upon your candidates before you even consider hiring them. Doing this is the only way you are going to avoiding hiring somebody whose only goal is to hack into your data. To perform a check on a person’s past, you should work alongside a company that offers an employment screening service, such as Secure Forensics. By doing so, you’ll be sure to hire the right person. More importantly, you’ll be sure not to hire a cyber-extortion threat.
Limit access to sensitive information
Access to your business’s sensitive information should be as limited as possible. It will give it better protection against falling into the wrong hands.
Always keep your antivirus software updated
Updates aren’t rolled out regularly to get you to spend more money on certain products. They’re rolled out regularly because changes are made, and these changes are crucial when it comes to fighting the latest and most dangerous cyber threats of the day. The next time you see that an update is available, don’t delay in getting it downloaded on your system.
If you want to stop a cyber extortionist in their tracks as they seek to take your business for all it’s worth, then you need to heed the above advice.
