IT security at your company: 7 best practices
Corporate IT security can be defined as a series of technologies and procedures to help protect the IT systems of a company. Also called Cyber Security, its goal is ensure the security of all assets involved, websites, computers, personal data, and technological infrastructure.
Companies have become more and more IT-supported, and, at the same time, also the attack options by malicious users have grown.
Cyber Security has become a cornerstone for the smooth operation of a company.
Today, computer security is based on three pillars, also called the AIC trio:
Availability
Confidentiality
Integrity
By exploring further, availability means the ability of a service to continue to work efficiently, without interruptions, even if it is under attack.
Confidentiality is mean not only as protection of private information, but also as the ability to grant access to them only to authorized users, and deny it to anyone else.
Lastly, integrity means ensuring correctness and data, and preventing any unauthorized modification.
Cyber security is subject to certain rules, contained in the GDPR. In this article, we will go over these rules and the list of areas involved by corporate cyber security, along with the aspects that should be paid greater consideration.
GDPR’s news in terms of cyber security
The European Regulation on Personal Data Protection 2016/679 (GDPR) has set some ground rules on the concept of cyber security, by establishing its basic principles.
In particular, attention has shifted to end user activities, since the majority of cyber attacks comes from the corruption of a single user, remotely.
One thing to do is prevent and also detect the vulnerability of an IT system, that is, limiting the time that passes between the attack and its discovery. Less system vulnerabilities there are, and more effective will the protection be.
The regulation entails that computer network security means the “capacity of an information network or system to resist to unforeseen events or illegal or criminal acts, at a certain security level. Which would compromise the availability, authenticity, integrity and confidentiality of personal data retained or transmitted.
The data holder - i.e. the company - being responsible for their processing, must evaluate also the cyber risk, which can translate into direct (financial) or indirect (reputation) risks, resulting from the use of technology.
The GDPR states the principle of accountability (Art. 5), based on which the company is responsible for implementing (Art. 32 of the law) suitable technical, procedural and organizational measures to ensure and prove that the data is processed in compliance with the Regulation.
Every company must have a DPO (Data Protection Officer) - a specialized figure with IT competences, with knowledge of the processes and tools for data retention and protection.
The type of Data Protection must be included in the data protection by design phase, being careful not to breach the privacy rights of the users protected by the same Regulation.
Articles 5-11 of the GDPR mention seven protection and responsibility principles:
- lawfulness, correctness, transparency
- scope limitation
- data reduction to a minimum
- accuracy
- filing limitation
- integrity and confidentiality
- responsibility
In any case, article 32 of the Regulation is the most important one in terms of cyber security, since it obliges those who process personal data to include measures for:
- Pseudonymisation (separation of data of another user, so that one does not lead to the other) and encryption of personal data
- Assurance of constant confidentiality, integrity, availability and resilience of the systems and services processing personal data
- Prompt recovery of data availability and access, in the case of physical or technical incident (disaster recovery)
- Testing and evaluating the effectiveness of the measures adopted on a regular basis
On how to adopt these measures, the Regulation sets forth suitable risk assessment and protection evaluation method, leaving some room for manoeuvre to the data holder, to build a data protection system suitable to their organization, while taking into account its characteristics and the costs to bear.
Cyber security?
Esprinet advices you on 7 best practices to ensure it!
Esprinet is a cutting-edge provider of tools and technology that cover all the market requests in terms of corporate cyber security.
Adopt a “Zero Trust” strategy, based on the assumption that nothing - in computer terms, is automatically reliable, and therefore it should be verified before any access, to prevent and reduce the risk of cyber attacks within an organization.
Corporate cyber security threats can be of many types, as much as the corporate areas involved.
Network Security
Esprinet offers multiple service and software solutions for network security, to monitor and manage your network. In particular, we offer software that updates the protections built into network appliances.
This way, you can prevent the intrusion of sophisticated software used by hackers into your system, which cause the so-called Denial of Service, where hackers overload the networks and servers with excess traffic, making the system completely unusable.
End Point Protection
Technological services based on end user protection, especially when connecting remotely to client devices within the network.
End Point Security provides solutions that intercept all kinds of Malware - software created to damage the computer of a user, with the aim of having an economic gain, through email attachments or download requests.
Secure Identity and Access Management Solutions per Cyber Security
The Secure Identity and Access Management - an essential component for a correct computer management - manages digital identifies and user access to data, systems and resources of an organization, preventing any illegal access to them.
With this technology, you can contrast phenomena such as phishing - an attack that occurs via emails that look like they are coming from safe sources, and requesting sensitive information, such as your credit card data.
Security and Vulnerability Management
Security and Vulnerability Management is the process to identify and assess any security vulnerability in corporate systems and software.
It becomes crucial when it comes to cyber security, since it assigns a priority to possible threats, while reducing their “attack surface” to a minimum.
Advanced Threat Protection
Advanced Threat Protection is a series of solutions to defend your systems against the most sophisticated malware that targets sensitive data.
We can contrast very sophisticated pirate software, such as Spyware, which secretly record the actions of each single user, stealing data from their credit cards, for instance.
Content Security
A good Content Security program is an excellent gatekeeper for a portal, which limits data origin toward it and the scripts that can be executed.
Content security control may be a costly task, but it is repaid over time with the quality and reliability of your portal.
Through content control, you can prevent the penetration of viruses into your system, which can replicate their malicious code quickly, such as Trojans or Ransomware, which blocks access to files and data.
Automated Security and Monitoring Solutions
These systems are directly integrated into web browsers, to control the data reaching your system, and they protect you against threats such as XSS and clickjacking.
This way, you add another level of defence to your portal, thus significantly improving its level of security.
Esprinet experts are available to guide you in choosing the best cyber security system for your business.
