We’re feeling very festive here at Nutbourne, so we thought we’d end the year in style. This is our very own 12 days of Christmas for cybersecurity. We’ve shoehorned 12 top tips for cybersecurity into the 12 days of Christmas song. Some of it fits nicely with the tune and some of it… well the advice is good at least! Without further ado, here’s our tips. Feel free to sing along!
Nutbourne’s first tip for Christmas cybersecurity
Update your Mac or PC
Hackers often depend on infiltrating systems based on emerging exploits and vulnerabilities. As soon as developers find out about these, they set about making a fix, which will be pushed out via an update. If you don’t install these updates then your system could remain at risk.
Nutbourne’s second tip for Christmas cybersecurity
Careful with pubs
No, we don’t mean your local drinkery, although you should take care this year in those pubs too! We mean public wi-fi hotspots. You shouldn’t use public wi-fi for anything important without first using a VPN. Using a Virtual Private Network encrypts data so that if it is intercepted in-flight it can not be understood. If you need to do something important, either use a trusted wi-fi source or use your phone’s data.
Nutbourne’s third tip for Christmas cybersecurity
Check for friends
Ok, this one sounds weird, but it had to sound a bit like three French hens, right? In any case, what we mean by this is to make sure communications you receive are actually from someone you know. For example, even if you receive an email from an email address you recognise, you still shouldn’t trust that it is legitimate straight away. Cyber criminals can spoof email addresses, so if you receive an email that seems a bit strange or if they are trying to get you to download something or sign in to something, double-check that they actually sent the email. Cybercrime is more prevalent throughout Christmas and New Year sales, so be extra vigilant!
Nutbourne’s fourth tip for Christmas cybersecurity
Use strong passwords
Creating passwords isn’t as simple as it once was. Cyber criminals are getting smarter and therefore we need to as well. Many websites still require passwords to be 8 characters long and include a capital letter, a number and often a symbol too. This is due to advice given by a “password guru” who gave this as advice many years ago. He now regrets the advice he gave out due to this pushing people towards lazy password management.
Passwords just need to be 3 things; memorable for the user, long and secure. They need to be memorable so you don’t forget it, of course. It’s annoying having to reset your password because you can’t remember where you’ve capitalised letters or put a number. They need to be long so supercomputers and botnets can’t crack them. Currently 16+ characters is a good number to have. We wrote a whole blog post on how to remember long passwords, so take a look if you need any advice! To be secure is also important, so you don’t want to be writing any passwords down and they also shouldn’t be too closely related to you. Don’t use your children’s names, for example. Hackers can figure these things out if you aren’t careful!
Nutbourne’s fifth tip for Christmas cybersecurity
Fake websites!
Be aware of fake websites. These may look like the real deal, but there are a few giveaway signs to look out for. The first thing you should always look for is the padlock in the URL (Or alternatively, it should say “https” and not just “http”). Secondly, make sure the URL is correct. Is it what you expected to be on? Finally, look out for any mistakes on the site. This could be spelling errors, images not loading, or even things not lining up quite right. If it doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t. Get out of there!
Nutbourne’s sixth tip for Christmas cybersecurity
Back up your data
Data loss can lead to serious downtime and lose you business. The only way to truly stay safe from data loss is to back up your data. Following the 3-2-1 data back up method, you should have 3 copies of your data. The original copy, an on-site copy for quick access and an off-site copy for extra security.
Nutbourne’s seventh tip for Christmas cybersecurity
Training staff in cyber
The biggest threat to your business in terms of cybersecurity isn’t viruses and ransomware. They are harmless… as long as you don’t get them. Most of these will come through email phishing, fake websites and the like. If your staff are cyber savvy they can avoid these things, meaning there isn’t any way for viruses to get in in the first place! Nutbourne offer a couple of options for this, including automated training via cloud-based software.
Nutbourne’s eighth tip for Christmas cybersecurity
Endpoint protection
The next stage in evolution of antivirus is endpoint protection. Of course, antivirus software is great, but stopping viruses is only one thing. Endpoint protection can do a lot more. For example, you can control what web access can be accessed. You can even control what kind of things can be downloaded and scan downloads before they can be executed. One of the main differences between standard antivirus and endpoint protection is the addition of heuristics. This is when whatever is downloaded is read by the software to understand what it is, rather than just comparing it to a list of known viruses, like most antivirus software.
Nutbourne’s Ninth tip for Christmas cybersecurity
Use web filtering
Web filtering is a great tool for businesses and the education sector. This filtering checks websites before they load to see what kind of content they contain. You can essentially block any website that could contain links to viruses, or even improve productivity by blocking access to games and social media.
Nutbourne’s tenth tip for Christmas cybersecurity
Good antivirus
In lieu of endpoint security, you will definitely be needing to use a good antivirus software. Viruses and ransomware are extremely prevalent in the modern era, with the creators getting smarter and more ingenious every year. Even those who are cyber savvy may end up downloading a virus, especially in businesses where the threat multiplies for every person in the organisation. Utilising antivirus software is one of the most recognised methods for combatting this issue. Nutbourne’s audits will find the best solution for your antivirus needs.
Nutbourne’s eleventh tip for Christmas cybersecurity
Policies for your business
Before you train your staff, you need to have policies in place to train them on. These policies can include internet usage, device usage and much more. Putting these in writing will make users much more wary of them and will increase your overall cybersecurity awareness.
Nutbourne’s twelfth tip for Christmas cybersecurity
Make socials private
Nearly every single person has some sort of social media profile. Using these, hackers can research targets, finding out about their birthday, pet names and more to build a target profile. They can then use this information to gain access to your accounts via guessing passwords or through account recovery systems. To ensure they can not do this, make your profiles private, so any personal information is kept hidden from the wider world.
All together now
Phew! So, to recap (Feel free to sing along. This was difficult to write!):
Nutbourne’s 12 tips for Christmas cybersecurity
Make socials private
policies for your business
Good antivirus
Use web filtering
Endpoint protection
Training staff in cyber
Back up your data
Fake websites!
Use strong passwords
Check for friends
Careful with pubs
And update your Mac or PC!
Contact Us
It’s been another tough year around the world, but we’ve made it through another one! We wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope you’re looking forward to 2022!
If you’d like to find out more about our cybersecurity services or our work more generally as a London managed service provider, then get in touch! Contact Nutbourne today on +44 (0) 203 7273 or by filling out an enquiry form on our website.