How to Make Your Company’s IT Network More Secure

The web and IT have completely transformed modern business to the point that the vast majority of companies these days rely on their IT network to function. However, while the internet and tech have undoubtedly brought considerable benefits, there is a darker, more sinister side to having yourbusinessonline. The truth is, each time you or your colleagues access the internet, you are potentially leaving yourself wide open to a cyberattack.

Research shows that through 2021, around 61% of all small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) suffered a security breach, with almost two-thirds of them subsequently going bust within six months of the attack.

To make matters even worse, cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and inventive in the way they target businesses, making it more and more difficult to secure private company networks.

Basic Steps You Should Take Today to Secure Your Network

While the risks posed by hackers are a clear and present danger to companies of all sizes, there are, thankfully, some relatively simple steps you can take to mitigate the dangers and make your network more secure:

Outsource your digital services: By far the easiest, quickest, and simplest way to secure a network is to entrust your IT to a specialist, third-party provider. A Top IT Services provider will look after the day-to-day running of your platform, while remotely monitoring it for problems and isolating issues, often before they even occur.

Migrate your IT to the cloud: Similar to the above, migrating your entire IT services to a cloud service provider will lock down your precious data, while also offering unrivaled support and backup services should the very worst happen and you suffer a breach. There are countless potential advantages to be gained from moving your network, software, and data to a cloud provider.

Hire a specialist firm to perform a network audit: If you still choose to keep your IT in-house, you should at least hire the services of a professional IT specialist to perform a full audit on your network. While you may consider your platform to be secure, a professional will be able to identify, isolate, and fix potential vulnerabilities in everything from your firewall to backup schedules.

Keep all software and Operating Systems (OSs) updated: Hackers are always on the lookout for easy-access routes into your sensitive data and one of the easiest ways is through outdated software and Operating Systems (OSs). When an app prompts you to update, you should do so immediately. Very often, these patches and fixes are being applied because the development company has found a security problem or other potential issue in their software.

Use secure passwords: You should ensure you and your team only use secure, alphanumeric passwords, and update them regularly. Also, make sure no one in your team shares their credentials over multiple accounts – for example, using the same password/username combination for a personal Gmail account, as well as their work accounts. Easy-to-guess or shared passwords are also some of the most common routes hackers use to gain access to private data.