Tech Tips This Holiday Season

Tech-Tips

During the holiday season, it’s easy to get swept away in the excitement of gathering with loved ones and gift giving. After all, it’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s also easy to forget that this is a time when cyber criminals are more active. In fact, in a recent statement released by the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the agencies warned that cybercrimes increase each year on weekends and during holidays.

Luckily, there are many key steps you can take to stay protected this holiday season, and beyond. Read on to see Varsity’s top technology tips for you and your organization.

Enable Multi-Factor Authentication.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is an authentication method that requires you to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to an online application, account, or a VPN. Rather than simply entering your username and password, MFA prompts you to enter additional information, such as a PIN, a confirmation on your smartphone, or even a fingerprint. Considering usernames and passwords are vulnerable to hacks, enabling MFA adds an additional layer of security. In fact, it’s shown to prevent 99.9% of hackers.

If you’re looking to implement MFA, Varsity can help! Through our managed security services, we offer three levels of security that build on each other to support growth and greater impact. ThreatWatch Protect is our first level that includes a suite of services (such as MFA) that are designed to protect your identity and data. Learn more about our security offerings.

Sign up for cybersecurity awareness training.

Education is the best defense against cybersecurity, especially when it comes to your team. Considering that IBM found that nearly half of security breachers are caused by human error, this is one of the most important steps you can take! Your team is the first line of defense against an attack. Cybersecurity awareness training allows your team to become aware of your organization’s IT security procedures, policies, and best practices. Additionally, it institutes confidence among your team and ensures your organization’s most sensitive information stays protected.

Curious about starting a cybersecurity awareness training program with your team but don’t know where to begin? Look no further than Varsity! We can provide your team with top-notch cybersecurity training specific to your organization’s unique needs. This service is also offered as part of our security service package, ThreatProtect.

Secure and update your devices.

Another great way to stay protected this holiday season is to ensure your devices are updated and secure. Routine updates keep your devices running smoothly by reducing errors and increasing efficiency. Installing additional security features such as anti-ransomware, anti-spam filtering, and email encryption are also excellent ways to stay protected.

The features mentioned here are key components of our ThreatProtect services. We also offer two additional levels of security: ThreatWatch Action and ThreatWatch Manage. ThreatWatch Action is perfect for organizations that require continuous monitoring. This level also includes annual pen tests and vulnerability scans. ThreatWatch Manage is for organizations that need to meet specific compliance requirements with a dedicated Compliance Officer and customized reporting. See which security level would be best for your organization.

Back up important data.

Backing up any important data is a great strategy in the event of an unforeseen cyberattack. Having assets backed up will get your devices up and running in no time. While there are several different ways to back up your data, cloud backup is the most effective and secure. Don’t just take our word for it, though — Cloud Direct posted an article outlining ten reasons for choosing cloud backup and disaster recovery solutions.

When it comes to the cloud, Varsity can help your organization scale up. Cloud infrastructure describes the components needed for cloud computing, which includes hardware, virtual machines, storage, and network resources. We can help with it all! We don’t mind where the infrastructure is hosted, either. Whether it’s our facility, Azure, AWS, or elsewhere, we can still manage it for you. Learn more about our cloud services.

Contact Varsity

This holiday season when your most important data is vulnerable to cyber attacks, keep your assets secure with the tips outlined here. If you’d prefer to have the extra security by partnering with trusted IT experts, let Varsity help. We will always work diligently to meet your current security needs while planning for the future. Contact us to learn more about our custom security solutions. Until then, have a wonderful holiday!

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Categories
Archives