Get to know more advanced tools for data security in companies

Data security is certainly one of the main topics for 2021 and the next few years, as the world deals with increasing threats, more expensive leaks, and hacker groups' professionalisation. A RiskIQ research, quite appropriately called "The Evil Internet Minute", showed that every minute US$ 11.4 million are lost to cybercrime. In addition, top companies pay US$ 24.70 per minute due to cyber security breaches, according to the same research.

Things got worse with the pandemic, which forced people and companies to move to less protected spaces - employee's homes to be exact. Even if and when businesses return to offices, the increasing threats and cases of breaches will still be some of the main issues on executive agendas. There is no going back: data security is now an ESG issue.

As attacks increase, the good news is that defensive resources have also been improving. There are currently some very simple ways to implement and maintain data security in companies, including simply educating and training workers. As it turns out, people are the first line of defence against security threats and the first line of attack for hackers looking for human error scenarios.

Some more advanced tools to protect your business

After implementing the first steps to protect your company against threats (training, multi-factor authentication, more robust and ever-changing passwords, etc.), one could take some other measures. Hardware security keys, for example, are excellent for protecting accounts. Some of the largest companies in tech offer solutions like this. Google recently launched their own hardware security keys for two-factor authentication called Titan Security Keys, similar to the popular Yubico hardware key.  

The hardware authenticators do require additional device costs, as well as users having to carry the actual token with them. On the other hand, there are biometric devices and authenticator apps that could ease the processes for users. These solutions will certainly play an increasingly important role in the days ahead. Nevertheless, they are a step in the right direction and a helpful defence combined with strong passwords.

Another less known tool to the general public are websites that collect emails associated with publicly known website hacks. Organisations should encourage users to register for a legitimate one, such as haveibeenpwned.com, which will help check if any personal details have been revealed in previous hacks. If users do find that their details got leaked in hacks, they should log in to the compromised account, change their password and do the same for all other sites for which the same or similar password is used. If you read our first post on this issue, we recommend that it is of course essential that you do not repeat the same password on multiple websites.

One more advanced tool would be to incorporate a "cybersecurity by design" framework. Introducing it into a company provides it with a holistic set of practical guidelines to enable an organisation to consider the full remit of protection and processes which should be in place to cope with the avalanche of cyber threats. This tool provides several core principles but ultimately makes compromise detection easier.

There are possibilities to collect all relevant security events and logs, design simple communication flows between components, detect malware command and control communications, make it difficult for an attacker to see security rules through external testing, and simply react to the abnormal traffic more rapidly.

By considering all aspects related to the protection of data, managing vulnerabilities, and making widespread use of cryptography tools, companies can move forward to keep their - and their clients’ - data safe.