Cybersecurity is an endless battle, with bad actors working to compromise unsuspecting people’s computers. Let James Feldkamp help educate you on how to defend yourself.
Keeping your computer, phone, and other devices secure from malicious actors and programs seems to be growing more difficult by the day as new methods are employed. The motives for this malice is not the same in every instance; for example, some may be done with the intention of stealing money from the victims, others seeking to steal data, and yet others simply exist to create chaos. James Feldkamp is here to help make these cybersecurity threats easier to understand and combat.
James Feldkamp: How to tighten your defenses
The main thing to do when defending against cybersecurity risks is to prepare for them in the first place. After all, a cybersecurity attack is not going to be as big a deal if you never even have to go up against it. Cybersecurity attacks can affect both big and small businesses, and small businesses are significantly more at risk due to how much more damaging being compromised can be. One thing that James Feldkamp recommends for business owners to do is simply to keep on the ball. Keeping your hardware up to date makes a big difference, as these updates often address vulnerabilities that older versions of the software may have had. Protection software is also important, according to James Feldkamp. Having a firewall blocks a lot of potentially malicious software and websites, while antivirus and antispyware software helps detect when things slip through the firewall. A combination of utilizing the available technology and having the smarts to stay away from potential risks helps cover a lot of holes.
James Feldkamp: What to do when an attack occurs?
For as much as you can do to avoid being the victim of a cybersecurity attack, nothing is entirely foolproof, James Feldkamp notes. So you also need to have a contingency plan for when the defenses fail. You should try to detect and locate the breach as soon as possible, and in turn, contain it before the damage gets any worse. Cutting off your tech from the Internet to stop the breach from getting more information or disabling remote access is a good step that James Feldkamp suggests. After that is finished, you should then assess where the breach came from. Is it a site-wide breach? A breach from only one or a few devices? Once you determine the source and severity of the problem, James Feldkamp suggests updating everything if necessary and change passwords, in case that one or more passwords were leaked. Make sure employees are not only kept abreast of the breaches, but also are educated on ways to avoid having this happen in the future.