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Harden Your Cyber Defenses Immediately

posted by TrueNorth Risk Management on Friday, April 8, 2022

Private Sector Businesses like yours have been warned to harden their cyber defenses, reiterating earlier warnings related to potential cyberattacks against U.S. organizations by Russia.

While there is no evidence of an imminent attack tied to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, President Biden’s top cybersecurity officer Anne Neuberger noted that the everyday cyber risks businesses face and the potential for Russia-led cyberattacks call for urgency.

Cybersecurity is an ongoing challenge, but organizations aren’t alone when it comes to safeguarding their digital assets.

Every business has important information that involves some level of sensitivity. Stop and think for a moment:

• “Are we confident in our Cyber Resiliency?
• Is our Data backed up consistently and secure from a breach?
• Are our colleagues aware of the major threats to our business and doing their part to protect the organization?
• Are we carrying the right insurance limits?
• How does that limit compare to our peer group?”

To further assist private sector companies in strengthening their defenses, recommended actions for private sector organizations include:

• Mandating the use of multifactor authentication on systems
• Deploying modern security tools that continuously look for and mitigate threats
• Working with cybersecurity professionals to ensure that organizational systems are patched and protected against all known vulnerabilities
• Changing passwords across networks so previously stolen credentials are useless to malicious actors
• Backing up data and creating offline backups
• Having emergency plans in place and ensuring those plans are practiced regularly so the business can respond quickly following a cyberattack
• Encrypting data
• Educating employees on common cyberattack strategies and encouraging them to report suspicious activity (e.g., slow or poorly behaving laptops)
• Establishing relationships with local FBI field offices or Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) regional offices

There are two constants in business: people and technology. As technology evolves, and data utilization and storage expand, TrueNorth is here to assist you in navigating this complex & challenging risk set.

Contact TrueNorth to learn more about potential cyber threats and risk mitigation tactics.