According to the Center For Strategic and International Studies, in June 2022, the FBI, NSA, and CISA reported that Chinese state-sponsored hackers had targeted the country’s most essential telecommunications companies and NSPs for the past two years.
Passwords are our first line of defense against cyberattacks. The security of your information is directly proportional to the type of password you keep. But do you use common passwords? If yes, you should know there are several factors at play here.
This has much to do with cultural ignorance. While one country may consider a password as secure, as it turns out, it may be the most commonly used password in another country.
Authoritative sources discuss how Juventus, an Italian football team, may be an all-right choice for Italians, but it also tops the list of most common passwords. Cultural differences play a key role in establishing compromising passwords, which is a problem.
How to Defend Against Cyber Attacks
According to IBM, a cyberattack is an attempt by cybercriminals to steal and breach data and use it in a compromising manner that can put the business or firm attacked in danger. Hijacking computer systems do this with unauthorized activity.
Let’s look at five practices that can help you defend against cyber attacks:
Raise Awareness
As suggested by Ekran System, you must educate the people who work for you about threats that can encompass them. Raising awareness will help them be careful, and they can protect their assets by replacing weak passwords with strong ones and tightening cyber security. Inform your employees about the dangers of keeping common passwords.
Focus on Reducing Employee Negligence
According to Ekran System, reducing employee negligence levels will contribute to fewer security mistakes which means tighter security. There are ways you can do this. One of them is informing your employees about the importance of cybersecurity. Other methods include detailed teachings about security measures and how to protect computer systems, discussing breaches that have taken place in history, and asking employees what they’ve understood and what they haven’t.
Discuss Phishing Techniques With Your Employees
Phishing is more common than one would like to admit. As per phishing.org, phishing is a fraudulent activity whereby a hacker can trick an individual into revealing compromising information, for example, debit or credit card information, passwords, or any other compromising information.
Keep Your Software Updated
Leaf-it suggests your software should be up-to-date at all times. Cyberhackers have a greater chance of getting an advantage if your softwares aren’t updated because if they’re not, weaknesses exist. It is not difficult to create an enterprise utilizing those weaknesses to get through to your network.
Firewall
You should install a firewall for the rainy season. Simply put by Cisco, a firewall is a security device that controls all network traffic, both incoming and outgoing, and restricts any traffic that does not follow security protocols. According to Leaf-it, if you place your network within a firewall, you can defend yourself against a cyber attack.
Conclusion
You must protect your data because if you don’t, hackers can use your information against you and exploit it in vicious ways to obtain what they want from you. Common passwords are not something hackers are unaware of. So, maintain healthy habits, such as establishing defense against cyberattacks and not keeping common passwords or those that are easy to guess.
