Without a doubt, 2020 qualifies as one of the most sensitive years for the internet. Not only because of the exponential growth of digitization or e-commerce, because of the increase in cyberattacks. According to a survey conducted by CyberEdge Group, 81% of organizations were successfully affected by a cyber-attack in 2020. Many of these attacks remain in the statistics and their details are never made public, but others affect the economy on a large scale. that puts the protection policies of companies in the spotlight.
The University of Maryland estimates that hackers are attacking computers and networks at a rate of one every 39 seconds and according to the company AV-Test, more than 113 million computer threats were registered in 2020. An average of 350,000 new attacks per day.
We cannot know how a future attack on the networks will work. However, there are some simple tips to avoid from a small and annoying virus, to the loss of all your information:
- Always keep your operating system updated.
If something helps ransomware to reproduce, it is that the cyber security system is outdated. Therefore, the installation of up-to-date security systems programs and firewalls reduce the chances of these evils.
- Never open suspicious emails (or files).
They are usually very obvious including flashy messages too good to be true, as well as being from unknown recipients. At the same time, opening suspicious links, even if they come from known people, is delicate since there are some viruses that are automatically resent when you open them and one of your acquaintances may have been a victim of them.
- Take care of the websites you enter.
One of the characteristics of the Internet is the ease of looking at only what you are interested on with a simple click so it is extremely easy to lose track of where we are going with the jump between page and page. There are peculiarities that can help us to recognize risky sites such as the low-end design of the pages, an unidentifiable link, a high number of ads (those that become a challenge to find the correct button to close them) as well as the pop-ups and redirects.
- Change your passwords regularly.
Many emails and apps warn you when an attempt to enter any of your accounts is detected from a global location that they consider suspicious. It is impossible that you have connected in Mexico and three hours later in Singapore. Prevent them from even trying with this little action.
As a businessman, I know that when we talk about a company maintaining security, in the cybernetic field, it can be somewhat more complicated, since the number of people online is proportionally related to the risk that is run, since it is only necessary that the hacker enter a device to enhance the likelihood of infection. Therefore, you must have extra security measures such as:
- Internal Protection: Communicating use policies both individual and in group; maintaining antivirus and antispam programs updated through encryption as well as a strict firewall and finally, restricted access to pages that may represent a risk.
- Perimeter Protection: Applying access control can ensure that the infrastructure is used optimally by employees and that the confidentiality and integrity of the information is maintained.
It´s all about using common sense, which we usually overlook because it does not appear to be a real risk. However, the virtual world is becoming increasingly relevant and we must also be more careful when navigating.
