5 Tips for Keeping up with Evolving IT Security Trends

One of the most dangerous misconceptions when it comes to the issue of IT security is the idea that your business is, somehow, too small to be a target. Sure, if one managed to penetrate the IT defense of a major company, they would stand to gain a fortune, yet, the bigger the company, the stronger the security, right? Well, not necessarily.

With the right approach to the situation, enough research and good enough ability to follow the latest trends, your IT security can punch way above its weight.

Here are five tips that can help you to hold your own in this industry.

1.      Outsource your IT security

Updates and innovation are a lot of work and the costs keep piling up, so why not delegate this task onto someone else? When it comes to the issue of IT security, a lot of people think just about the installation and the initial costs. What they don’t think about are the constant updates, fixes and patches, the cost of maintenance and supervision as well as updating your system in order to keep it up to date with all the latest trends.

All of this takes an incredible amount of work and, for the most part, this is the work that your staff isn’t skilled enough to handle. Therefore, finding the right IT security agency to deal with the issue might be the simplest and the most cost-effective solution to the problem. In fact, this model is something that even some of the greatest conglomerates are using.

2.      More steps of authentication

The next important thing for you to understand is the fact that a widely used password protection is a deeply flawed system. No matter how much you invest in your company’s cybersecurity, all it takes is for one of your employees (with high enough access) to blurt out their password in public or give it to the wrong person for your entire system to collapse.

Even this needn’t be the case, seeing as how they can just use their pet’s name or their child’s birthday as their password. Such a thing is something that anyone who can see their Facebook profile could figure out. This is why it’s essential for companies to introduce more steps of authentication when it comes to access to sensitive data.

3.      Consider a strong firewall

Your digital presence needs a barrier to separate it from the rest of the internet in order to keep it safe. The best way to do so is via a firewall. Now, the first thing you need to know about firewalls is that there are two types. First, there’s firewall software which is a digital tool that almost every device with access to the internet has.

Second, the more complex and more reliable type is the hardware firewall security system, which relies on physical hardware to keep you safe. This type of firewall gives you greater security visibility and a more rapid response, based on increased real-time detection abilities.

4.      White-hat hackers and challenges

Sometimes the only way to see just how reliable your IT security system is to give it a trial by fire. Sooner or later, your business will encounter a hacker and it’s much better for it to take place in a controlled environment. With the help of a white-hat hacker on your side, you can test your system’s security in a scenario that’s as close to the real-life scenario as possible.

Another method to do so is to start a challenge, offering a monetary reward for anyone who can penetrate your site. If they succeed, you’ve just uncovered a major lapse in your security. If not, you’ve at least gotten some great PR for free.

5.      Predictive cyber protection and AI

It is impossible for any IT expert to accurately predict all possible directions from which the hazard is lurking. However, such a thing might not be impossible for AI-based cyber prediction software. Nowadays, we have at our disposal an unprecedented amount of data, which could be used by cyber protection software aided by a sophisticated AI in order to predict future hazardous scenarios and situations. Sure, predictive analytics have hefty system requirements but for those who can and want to pay for them, they offer quite a few benefits.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, while it is true that IT security trends keep evolving and growing, this definitely doesn’t make them impossible to track or follow. Just sticking to several major points or delegating this task to someone who’s better suited to handle it might help you handle this situation with the greatest efficiency.