Top 5 IT Security Problems for Businesses 

by | Feb 23, 2021

Companies that suffer a security breach usually have one of these IT security problems. Is your company guilty of any of them?

1. Poor Backup Strategy

A shocking number of businesses are not backing up their data properly. According to market research company Clutch, 60 percent of businesses who suffer a data loss shut down within six months.

Not only should every business be fully backing up their data in regular increments, but their backups should be stored in multiple locations including offsite in the cloud. With data safely stored in the cloud, a regular restoration health check should in place to mitigate risks of lost data, along with gauging time to recover. Many businesses don’t find out that their backup can’t be used until it’s already too late.

2. Reactive and Not Proactive

The world is constantly changing and in the IT world doubly so. Along with new business requirements for technology to help businesses grow comes the added risks associated, however many organizations do not take the proper precautions to mitigate their risks.

Cyber attackers are always figuring out new ways to attack your endpoint information.

Unless you are taking a proactive approach to IT management your network hardware is out of date allowing hackers to attack through well-known access points, which leaves all endpoint devices vulnerable for attacks on the network. A substantial number of businesses wait until these issues impact them directly before they respond. The result is higher costs, longer downtime, and harder hitting impacts. 

By maintaining a proactive approach to securing networks, devices, and information: IT can be done the right way. Being proactive about your IT needs means systems don’t have to break or compromised before they are fixed. The result for your business is less downtime, fewer losses, and lower IT costs.  

3. Weak Passwords

A surprising number of people will use the password “password” to secure some of their most important accounts. (Like, come on! DON’T ever do this!)

Even more, still will write their own password on a post-it note  next to their computer. In some cases, many will even use no password at all. Strong passwords act, not only as a barrier to prevent unwanted entry but as a vital accountability tool too. When system changes are made it’s often essential that the account that made changes is secured to the right person.  

With an insecure password or worse, none, tracking the individual responsible for reports or accountability becomes impossible. This can result in both auditing disasters on top of technical ones. By leveraging cloud technology an organization can control password policies across all company software platforms, allowing for an enterprise level cybersecurity solution.  

4. Insufficient Staff Training

Humans in the system are commonly the weakest point in IT security and malware attacks. Great IT security can be a bit like having state-of-the-art locks on a door propped open with a milk crate. If staff isn’t trained to use the lock properly, it’s worth nothing at all.  

Often businesses can justify spending big on security for the latest and greatest IT defenses. The very same firms may exceed their budget and spend zero on training staff to use them. In this instance, a little goes a long way. Security training can help staff to identify a malware threat at the endpoint, avoiding and mitigating damage, often completely.  

5. Weak Data Controls

Some companies can take an ad-hoc, fast and loose approach to the security associated with storing professional data. Often crucial parts can be spread across many devices, copied needlessly with multiple versions, and sometimes even left open for majority security threats. Customer data can be found regularly on employee users laptops, cell phones, and tablet devices leaving them potential open for malicious use. These are famously prone to being misplaced or stolen out in the field along with vital client and security data.  

It can be easy for both employees and firms to focus on the costs of devices and hardware purchased for the business. The reality is that the data held on devices is always worth many times more than the device that holds it. For many firms, their approach to data hasn’t been changed since the firm was first founded. Critical data is often held on single machines that haven’t been updated precisely because they hold critical data. Such machines are clearly vulnerable, outdated, and prone to failure.  

Common Problems with Simple Solutions

Each of these common issues has simple solutions to secure against IT failure. With a professional eye and expertise in the field, every business should be defended against IT security issues that risk your organization.  

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