Protecting Your Business Against Security Threats with Good IT Hygiene
There is a seemingly endless list of security threats to your business systems. From phishing and smishing (using texts or robocalls to get personal information) to ransomware and brute force, at any given time, your organization is being attacked on multiple fronts.
Sadly, the successful attacks are not due to companies not having sophisticated security processes or tools in place; the majority are due to what we have heard referred to as unhygienic IT practices—which we believe is the perfect name for this phenomenon.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, anyone can name three things you should do to reduce your chances of becoming infected: washing your hands, wearing a mask, and maintaining a safe distance. While there are other methods to protect you, these “simple” approaches are considered good hygiene—nothing complicated or expensive, just hygienic and effective.
The same can be said regarding IT practices in the prevention of security threats. Good IT hygiene is based on the idea that the bad actors will take the path of least resistance. For instance, it’s a lot easier to compromise a user than to attack a firewall. With that in mind, some good practices that are covered regularly when talking about cybersecurity include passwords and multi-factor authentication, managing data backups responsibly, protecting administrator accounts, and protecting your RDP.
Keeping Systems Up To Date: The Overlooked IT Security Threat
Everyone talks about the practices listed above when it comes to fighting security threats, but one that is often missed is the practice of keeping all your software and systems up to date. Anything that involves new versions, patches, or fixes—from applications to firewalls and everything in between—presents an opportunity for security risk if not kept up to date.
Of particular concern is anything that is exposed to the outside world, including firewalls, routers, switches, and operating systems for servers and workstations. If a bad actor is able to get through one of these areas, it’s open season on your applications and data.
And these bad actors don’t just target recent software and systems. They’ll go back as far as they need to go to find vulnerabilities that benefit their cause, whether damage or theft. This is why it is so vitally important to keep everything in your IT ecosystem up to date with patches, fixes, and new versions.
Don’t Forget Your Applications: They’re Vulnerable to Security Threats, Too
On the topic of upgrading to the latest version, keep this in mind: If you have any issues with versions that are no longer supported, you might find yourself unable to prevent or recover from a security breach because nobody will have the knowledge or tools to address it. It is for this reason that keeping your applications up to date is just as important.
While most attacks come through outside-facing routes as discussed, there can be big issues (and not just with security) if a point or multiple points are out of date and unsupported. For example, a company running old, unsupported versions of a database, Windows, and NAV ran into issues with authentication. Because they were on unsupported versions, there was no recourse to rectify the problem.
Practice Good IT Hygiene To Fight Security Threats: Upgrade Dynamics NAV or Business Central
Hiscox, an international specialist insurer, reported that, in 2021, 23 percent of small businesses had been a victim of at least one cyber attack, with an average annual financial cost of $25k. This statistic is important to keep in mind if you’re holding off on upgrading to the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics Business Central because of cost. It’s important to compare the cost of upgrading with the risk of losing $25k per year if you stay on an unsupported version.
Watch our webinar Demystifying Cybersecurity with ArcherPoint, where we pack a lot into 30 minutes, including endpoint management, password health, backups, end user education, and more.
Get Current and Stay Current on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Don’t wait due to budget or any other reason to ensure all your systems are secure. You have a choice that will help you with the financial burden of staying up to speed with changing technology. Learn more about our Get Current Stay Current plan by viewing our webinar recording, How to Get Current and Stay Current on Dynamics 365 Business Central. You’ll learn what you need to know to make the right decision for your business and how we can help.
ArcherPoint has the largest upgrade team of any NAV/Business Central partner in North America and an excellent reputation for upgrades, regardless of industry or complexity, and we always strive to make staying current on Business Central as easy for you as possible. Read this story of how we helped upgraded a customer with a 3.7 terabyte database in just 47 hours.
How do you get started? With a free upgrade quote from ArcherPoint.