Business Continuity Planning – Protecting your IT systems
BCDR – or Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery doesn’t cost the earth, but not having it could cost you your business. Protecting your IT systems is essential.
Cyber-attacks are rising, and hackers are increasingly attacking small and medium sized businesses, with devasting results. Organisations that are not prepared with robust business continuity plans and systems in place to deal with the unexpected, can be subjected to huge financial losses, brand damage, loss of customer trust and in some cases may result in closure of the business.
WHAT IS A CYBER-ATTACK?
A cyber-attack, or hacker attack, is when a network or application is targeted with malicious intent. This attack could be targeted at a specific victim or indirect, where the attacker uses a scattergun approach, in the hope that one or several will fall victim to the attack. It is a criminal activity which usually aims to steal, destroy, or hold data for a ransom fee.
WHAT IS PHISHING?
Phishing activity is designed to trick the victim into revealing personal information. This could be a fraudulent message or scam which is designed to make the recipient respond by revealing sensitive information, for example a password or bank information, or encourage them to click a link which then downloads malware onto their computer. Small businesses are particularly susceptible to Phishing as they don’t have the internal IT infrastructure and IT teams to advise and support them.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS AGAINST PHISHING
Defence against phishing attacks should be multi-layered. In addition to educating users on how to spot phishing emails, there are a number of technical measures that can be taken to protect your employees, customers, and business.
Anti-Virus
Malware and Ransomware Protection - check incoming emails for scams, phishing and stop malware from installing
Email Spam Filtering and Security – automatically send dubious emails to junk folders or block suspicious content
Firewalls
Device Encryption
Conformedia works with clients to mitigate the risks of losing valuable data and production downtime by assessing the risks and then tailoring a package of protective measures.
BUSINESS IT CONTINUITY PLANNING
The consequences of a data breach from any cyber-attack can be extremely damaging to a business, both financially and to the business’s reputation. Having the correct protection, systems and protocols in place is therefore essential to ensure a business experiences minimal disruption and downtime. Your IT strategy is integral to business continuity planning.
Conformedia works with a range of organisations, from micro businesses to SMEs, providing solutions to ensure maximum protection against a hacker attack. We constantly monitor systems, and any issues are automatically logged and dealt with, however should an attack get through, being able to respond quickly to the problem and limit damage is essential.
Many of our clients chose cloud backup and data replication as a fail-safe. Having automatic backup in place means that we can restore files and data quickly and easily, minimising downtime.
It’s worth noting that cyber insurance policies may ask for evidence of measures being taken to protect, restore and access business data.
For more information on how we will work with you to ensure you have the backup system in place to keep your business, your customers, and your employees safe, please get in touch with Richard Twigger
T: 0113 234 1548
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