Recently it was discovered the email system for the City of San Marcos was shut down due to a cyber attack. As a local company who provides San Diego IT services and IT security solutions across North County San Diego we found this to be pretty huge since this attack hit so close to home. After all we are based in San Marcos also.
This attack on the City of San Marcos did in fact cause some down time and loss of productivity. There was a period of time employees of the city were not able to communicate with a portion of the public. Thankfully the communication between emergency services in San Marcos were not affected. However, we did learn members of the San Marcos community who normally solved certain matters by email needed to go to the City of San Marcos office and receive help in person. This is just one example of how a cyber attack can cause an interruption in a system and put a halt to day to day productivity.
Unfortunately cyber crimes are a very common attack on several business systems. Proper computer maintenance can lead to a lesser chance of becoming a victim of these types of attacks.
Here are some IT security solutions to help stay proactive when it comes to computer maintenance and fighting off potential hackers:
Who is keeping a close eye on your most sensitive data? Daily monitoring is important and contributes to proactive computer maintenance. Daily monitoring can include running anti-virus software, malware protection, daily backups and managed firewall protection.
Another proactive IT security tool is email protection. Take a moment to think about – what are you doing to make sure your email is the most safe it can be. Moreover, what is the message you are sending to your staff. Are you providing them with the tools to identify if an email is safe to open or not.
Email security and spam filtering is a necessity to stay safe. Make sure your email security is set at the highest level. In addition, phish testing for employees is another helpful IT security tool. This type of testing is used to help monitor the level of cyber security awareness among your staff.
It is common to ponder since Office 365 and Google G suite are in the cloud that they are simply already being backed up. Unfortunately this is not the case. Your files that you and your team members are uploading to the cloud are not automatically being backed up.
For example, if you were to be hacked and your cloud program is not backed up, data may be lost or most likely not retrievable. An important IT security solution to consider is backing up the data saved in Office 365 or Google G suite. A managed IT service provider can help provide the proper cloud security backup service for these programs.
Help your staff learn how to identify when an email does not look safe. By providing cyber security training for your staff, this can help gain awareness for signs of a suspicious email. Provide your staff with the support and resources to learn how to identify a phishing email. Employees should know the signs of something phishy. Any type of security threat needs to be reported to your managed IT service provider or outsourced IT support company immediately.
The Dark Web is a location on the internet that is not indexed regularly by search engines. It is a hidden network that cannot be found through normal browsers. If your company is hacked and data is stolen – this data could end up on the dark web. It could become part of a trade for further criminal engagements. Monitoring the dark web is a form of proactive computer maintenance.
By monitoring the dark web, you can learn if any information is being shared about your company. Furthermore, you can discover potential targets or hacking strategies by sophisticated cyber attackers. You may be able to eavesdrop on such conversations. And possibly put together strategies to defend your business and keep it safe before a hacker can attack.
Being proactive and using the IT security solutions mentioned above can be useful tools to help fight off hackers. Having a fully managed, security firewall or helping your staff learn how to spot fake harmful emails contributes to a strong IT security program. To learn more about how to keep your most sensitive information safe please contact us today.
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