Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies had to operate from home as many countries were in lockdown. It wasn’t easy, as many were not used to working from home. It was hard to adapt to this new way of working.
Even though workers working from home had to adapt, they later came to enjoy it. Especially with the realization of flexible working. Businesses continued just as normal; many businesses recorded an increase in productivity. Some of the businesses have even switched from office to working from home.
Although there are benefits to working from home, there are other areas that a business company should look into, especially when working online. One of the areas is security cybersecurity.
Many Canadian companies have been affected by cyber-attacks in 2021. According to the Cyberthreat Defense Report, almost 85.7% of Canadian companies got affected due to successful Cyberattacks and 61.2% faced Ransom threats. As a result, many businesses have lost money and classified information. However, Canada comes 13th in the list of countries for cybersecurity score.
Still, we don’t want your business to go down that road, so it becomes essential to protect your business with Canada VPNs.
Using a VPN is one way to protect your business, but you need to set up a cybersecurity framework for your business. Using a cybersecurity framework, you will protect your business against any cyber-attack. But first, let’s understand what a cybersecurity framework is.
A cybersecurity framework is a collection of practices that a business company or an organization should follow to manage the risk of cybersecurity. Such a framework minimizes the risk of a company’s exposure to vulnerabilities online.
When used appropriately, a cyber security framework makes it possible for security leaders and IT to handle their companies’ cyber risks more wisely.
If you are interested in setting up a cybersecurity framework for your business but find it intimidating to start from scratch, don’t worry. Instead, follow the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), for they issue a lot of frameworks that are simple to understand to sort security issues.
The framework also helps you to prepare your business well against cyber-attacks. It consists of guidelines on how to prevent your business from cyber threats and how to recover from online cyber-attacks.
There are five main domains that you should know about NIST’s cybersecurity framework; they happen to be the pillars of a successful cybersecurity program, and they include:
Identity is the first of the five main elements, for it assists when it comes to an understanding of the workplace, including systems, assets, data, and the people. For a business to be on the safe side, you must first understand your environment. Next, you will identify what kind of threats your data, systems, and frameworks are exposed to.
By doing so, you will detect vulnerable areas and take the necessary steps to find a way to protect your business.
The protect function is helpful for a business that needs to implement appropriate safeguards to control or limit the negative effects of a cybersecurity event.
Using the protect function involves arming your business with the necessary tools which can help reduce the chances of cyber threats. To safeguard your business in Canada, you should use a cybersecurity tool: a VPN. A good VPN will safeguard your business from Phishing, Malware, etc.
Using a VPN will also protect you from hackers and other cyber goons. So having a VPN is a boost for protecting your business.
Protect function also involves physical security control, like making sure the doors to main servers have locks. Also, ensure only those with authorization can get in. To be safe every time, you will need to keep monitoring, and having CCTV cameras will play a major role in solving the issue.
Implement cybersecurity strategies to detect any cybersecurity event as soon as possible. Additionally, every employee should detect any malicious activity and know what to do in case of any cyber-attack.
Taking advice from expert hackers may prove to be a good idea. They can perform an advanced test to try and penetrate through; while doing so, you will be able to detect your business is vulnerable areas.
The respond function is the fourth element of the cybersecurity framework. It plays a major role in helping the business have an effective response plan. Using the respond function, businesses will minimize the consequences of cyber incidents.
Having a response team in place would be a great idea. You may need the team, especially when experiencing a cyber-attack. They will help control the issue from when the attack has been identified until it is mitigated.
Recover is the last function of the cybersecurity framework. It includes plans to restore crucial functions and services once your business experiences a cyber-attack. The recovery option will help reduce the impacts of the attack. Therefore, the business should be back to normal after an attack.
If you are a business owner, it doesn’t matter the size of the business, small or large. However, you will need to establish a cybersecurity framework. By doing so, you will avoid security risks like hacking, and phishing, among others.
