There are many levels of cybersecurity an organization can apply to defend itself. However, there are five critical tasks that all organizations should perform to ensure basic cyber protections:

1. Implement multi-factor authentication!

This is one of the most impactful changes you can make today. While many users may find it inconvenient to push an accept button or enter a code, it is much cheaper and easier than attempting to recover from ransomware or other cyber attacks that are on the rise.

2. Patch your systems and stay current on software versions.

New flaws and ways to gain access to your network are found daily and pose a real threat to your business. Ensuring fixes are applied to your software and hardware is key to staying secure.

3. Anti-virus and Anti-malware protection on all your endpoints.

This is a small investment with large returns. Defending your servers, laptops, and desktops with anti-virus and anti-malware solutions will ensure your systems have always-on protection from malicious code execution.

4. Use strong passwords and change regularly.

It’s not just your internal system; many Users will leverage their work emails to sign up for 3rd party, external applications, and software. As we see growing, many external companies’ data are breached and sold on the dark web. If an employee’s work email, username, or password are stolen, they can be leveraged to access your network.

5. Training employees on how to spot fraudulent emails and bad URL links.

Your employees are many times the first line of defense from cyberattacks. Consider investing in anti-phishing training and testing software to train your employees on what to look for.

These 5 best practices will give your business a solid defense from risk of cyberattack.