So your company employee passwords were stolen.

According to Verizon Enterprise’s 2016 Data Breach Investigations Report – Executive Summary, 63% of confirmed data breaches involved leveraging weak, default or stolen passwords. It’s one of the most common ways hackers access your data. And ingrained employee password habits are hard to change.

Now what?

Password post-theft triage

By now, you probably know that most cybercriminals are not creating new and unique ways to hack corporate environments.

It’s simply not worth the time. The costs-benefits analysis proves that money is easier to find elsewhere.

Instead, hackers continually exploit the 8-10 most commonly known weaknesses, including patches that have been available for months or even years. Criminals take advantage of large corporations for exactly what consumers associate with trust — their size. The problem is that mass volumes of data can make security unwieldy and cumbersome to approach.

Once you’ve been prey to a malicious attack, your eyes are now open to your company’s particular vulnerabilities and weaknesses. With a system-wide triage of employee education and reset (strong) passwords, you likely feel ready to turn back to normal business operations.

But, you’re also much more cautious. It’s time to assess how to avoid becoming a victim again.

From David Talbot, senior writer for MIT Technology Review:

“…hindering progress everywhere is the general lack of encryption on the devices and messaging systems that hundreds of millions of people now use. [Now three years post-Snowden,] many major Internet companies promised to do more to encrypt data. They started using encryption on their own corporate servers, but most users remain exposed unless they know to install and use third-party apps that encrypt their data.”

(Source: MIT Technology Review, March/April 2016 Business Report, Cybersecurity: The Age of the Megabreach.)

Integrate a new security solution

While it’s unlikely to find a system that’s completely impenetrable, there are steps you can take now to protect your data and stop cybercriminals from targeting you again.

You’ve worked closely with IT to ensure your data security is up-to-date and functioning as it should. Vendors and third-party providers have been reassessed and carefully vetted. But a majority of the time, it’s easy-to-guess passwords that are the failing point.

It’s time to reassess your authentication methods.

You can protect sensitive data by integrating a multi-factor authentication method for your enterprise servers and systems. Are you using 1- or 2-factor authentication? Read more about business vulnerability with 2-factor authentication from Cyber Solutions Technologies (CST). CST uses a unique software-based method for secure authentication.

For further mobile cybersecurity

Focusing on enterprise mobile cybersecurity, Cyber Solutions Technologies offers patented cybersecurity software authentication (3-factor) solutions for your business. This software enables employees to protect corporate data and safely carry their own personal files and records on their mobile devices.

This technology is immediately available for cross-platform integration and will help secure a digital footprint when accessing mobile devices in public wi-fi spots, while traveling and on unfamiliar networks.

For more information about Cyber Solutions Technologies, email rickw@cybersolutionstek.com.

photo credit: via photopin (license)