Cybersecurity has become a topic of concern worldwide for businesses of all sizes. As threats evolve, so should your business. Staying ahead of the curve is a great way to harden your business against common and emerging cyber attacks, especially over the internet.
Even with a small IT team, you can make plenty of progress and improve your cybersecurity posture without breaking the bank. Let’s explore some actions you can take within the next 30 days, earn some quick (and big) wins and keep your business data secure.
Week 1: Create a Foundation and Build Awareness
Your first week should focus on an audit of all hardware and software assets, securing them and rallying your team around critical cybersecurity basics.
Day 1-2: Catalog Your Assets
Kick off your sprint by taking a full inventory of all the hardware, software, and cloud assets used in your business. This way, you identify all infrastructure used in your business and pinpoint what needs protection. Taking inventory for a small business is fast, and all team members can participate.
Day 3-4: Patch and Update Software
Next, ensure all firmware, enterprise software, and critical business applications are up-to-date. Download and install all the latest security patches to reduce your exposure to common vulnerabilities. While at it, find and replace deprecated software to avoid any potential future risks.
Day 5-6: Conduct a Physical Security Check
Conduct a physical inspection of your workstations, server rooms, and network access points. Check storage areas and ensure these assets are well-protected from theft, damage, and unauthorized access. Your servers should be stored in a lockable, well-maintained location within your premises.
Day 7: Create Awareness and Set Basic Security Policies
To wrap up your first week, introduce your team to fundamental cybersecurity concepts and ideas. The Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA) Triad is an excellent place to start. Define everyone’s roles and draft simple and actionable security policies to guide your team moving forward.
Week 2: Strengthen Authentication and Access
Your second week should focus on strengthening access to your systems and ensuring only authorized users gain access.
Day 8-9: Audit User Accounts
Review all user accounts and clean up your rolls. Remove all inactive and unnecessary accounts as they can be used to exploit your infrastructure. As for all remaining authorized users, grant only the minimum access permissions required for their roles in your business.
Day 10-11: Roll Out Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all critical systems, cloud services, email addresses and administrator accounts. Take advantage of free tools like Microsoft Authenticator or Google Authenticator, which can add a robust layer of security for your business at no extra costs..
Day 12-13: Enable Filtering for All Users
Configure your existing DNS service to filter out spam and block access to malicious websites. For added protection, consider a third-party tool that enables cloud-based filtering to enhance and shield against phishing and other online threats.
Day 14: Enforce Strong Password and Lockout Policies
Ensure all users set unique passwords that use a complex set of symbols, numbers, and letters. Where possible, encourage your team members to use password managers. Set strong lockout policies and progressive delays to prevent brute-force attacks on your systems.
Week 3: Secure Endpoints and Networks
Next, harden all endpoints and networks against new and emerging cyber threats.
Day 15-16: Install and/or Update Endpoint Security Software
Ensure all your company devices use reputable antivirus and antimalware software. Choose from the many free and low-cost options available, one that offers robust and continuous protection against common cybersecurity threats.
Day 17-18: Configure Firewall Rules
Audit your firewall settings across all devices. Ensure only authorized inbound and outbound traffic can pass, while closing all unnecessary ports. Doing this reducing the risk of data theft and unauthorized access within your organization.
Day 19-21: Segment Your Network
Use Virtual LANs (VLANs) and Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) to isolate mission-critical systems from computers using general network traffic. In case of a security breach or malware attack, segmenting your networks protects your systems from exploitation and damage.
Week 4: Monitor, Train, and Prepare for the Future
In the first three weeks, you’ve done all the heavy lifting. What’s left is to shift your focus to monitoring your systems, training your staff, and preparing for future cybersecurity incidents.
Day 22-24: Enable Logging and Monitoring
Create and keep logs of all activity on your critical systems. Monitor them for unexpected network traffic, suspicious login attempts, and unusual activity. You can do this using free or open-source intrusion detection systems for added visibility.
Day 25-28: Train Your IT Team
Get your IT staff up to speed on how to recognize phishing attempts, suspicious logins, and other threats. With targeted cybersecurity training, you can foster a culture of proactive reporting by teaching good security habits.
Day 29-30: Ensure Secure Backup and Recovery Systems
Implement regular backups for critical data, using both physical and cloud solutions. Test your backup and recovery process to ensure you can restore data quickly and reliably in the event of a security incident, minimizing downtime and ensuring business continuity.
Final Tips for Further Success
This 30-day cybersecurity sprint immediately sets your business up for success, but don’t stop there. Maintain your momentum with these tips:
Positioning your business and IT Team for success is pretty easy to achieve with this short 30-day action plan. But you can always do more. Here are some quick tips to ensure you succeed:
- Focus on high-impact tasks that deliver the most security for your effort.
- Use free Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to learn and improve your security posture.
- Automate repetitive tasks, including software updates, using low-cost and built-in automation tools.
- Test and refine your data recovery procedure, making it as efficient as possible.
