By Steven Luczynski, Chief Information Security Officer, T-Rex Solutions.
The second post in our series in support of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, #BeCyberSmart, we are focusing on the next campaign theme: Secure IT.
SECURE IT
Another cyber hygiene practice we emphasize to our employees is the need to update their devices in a timely manner. While we allow for some delay, in certain circumstances, to avoid interrupting business operations to the max extent practical, installing patches for software, operating system, applications, etc as soon as possible ensures those devices have the best protections available.
The best and easiest method to complete these actions is a simple reboot of their device. This could be the last line of defense for keeping our protected information secure in the unfortunate scenario where an employee inadvertently clicks on a malicious link or attachment. Even so, we strive to remove that burden from our employees by leveraging the technical capabilities of our security products and automation to lessen our employees’ susceptibility to phishing attempts.
Personal devices, often used for work purposes in our BYOD environment, typically allow for the same automated patches and updates, along with filtering spam and other potentially malicious emails. The ability to install updates automatically is just as valuable on personal devices. This cyber hygiene practice easily transfers from work to home, where the importance of this habit continues to increase with the proliferation of Internet-of-Things devices and smart home technologies.
For more information on these topics, check out:
https://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/securing-key-accounts-devices/mobile-devices/
Auto-updating your devices and apps:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202180
https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/113412?hl=en
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12373/windows-update-faq
Other articles in our series:
Intro to Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Secure IT with Passwords
Cybersecurity Awareness Month Series: Protect IT
Cybersecurity Awareness Series Finale
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