CRITICAL IT DECISIONS FOR BUSINESS
IT considerations for enterprises can seem baffling, not knowing where to start. With the threat of data theft, security breaches, identity theft businesses need to be extra cautious and aware to protect themselves and not compromise their stakeholders. The danger is real, and the solution is to educate ourselves. Here is a list of the basic IT considerations that a business must take when starting.
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Assessing security standards-
Whenever an enterprise considers adding a new element to their technological infrastructure, they must assess the overall cybersecurity. It must be contemplated if the planned technology is sufficiently secure to function smoothly without sabotaging the security of the other solutions.
Cyberattacks can very quickly turn into costly endeavours for organizations. Cybercriminals don’t discriminate based on the size of the organization, all enterprises are potential targets. There is no such thing as a business that is too small to be a target.IT decisions throughout their operations, businesses continue to accumulate data that cybercriminals consider extremely valuable. The walls of defence need to be impregnable.
Considering the security lapses and acting to resolve them is a great start.
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Speaking to the data-
Speaking to the data is essential; data is constantly communicating with us. Leveraging the resource planning solutions is a sure way to gain insight into the business’ functionality, and the touch-points that could use improvement. Subsequently, a better decision can be taken based on what the data says is the most urgent need. However, businesses need to be careful when leaning into their data. Bringing too many variables into play can lead to false trends and other results that could hurt the business. In short, businesses must ensure that they understand what data they have and how it is interconnected to streamline the decision-making process and optimizing the data available.
- Retrospection-
Any new technology that is added to the workflow needs to be perfectly compatible with the solutions and resources of the business. The proposed solution must be able to integrate with the current solutions and workflows seamlessly. The planned solution should also allow for scalability as per plans so that the company wouldn’t find itself with too many or too few resources at their disposal. This is all a bid to ensure that the investment is a good one. Most importantly, employees need to be accepting of new technological solutions. With the increasing buzz about how automation can ‘replace’ humans, they may be apprehensive. An investment can be a good one only if it is leveraged enough which means it is directly related to the response from the employees.
- Assess all options-
Before finalizing on any solution, it must be weighed against its alternatives. A fair comparison would help ascertain which option is best under which circumstance. The costs of changes can be very heavy for the organization and upgrades can affect the operating costs. With new versions of devices being released very frequently, companies must decide whether to go for it or wait it out for something more advanced. Continued usage of obsolete technology can also have legal implications. If an older piece of hardware or software means no compliance to the industry requirements, the decision power may be a lot more restricted. The key to effectively making any decision regarding IT is to accurately calculate the potential costs and compare them to the benefits to be gained.
This can be a stressful affair and is easier said than done, but as Millenials say- You gotta do, what you gotta do! That settles it fair and square.
PHISHING ATTACKS
The worst nightmares of modern-day businesses (making generous use of personification here) would probably consist of phishing attacks. There is no escape as phishing attacks continue to grow in frequency and danger. There is no running and businesses need to ensure that their employees are cognizant of this and don’t hand over sensitive information without necessary verification.
The term phishing appears rather funny. It is possibly a portmanteau of the words ‘phone’ and ‘fishing’ i.e. fishing for information. In simple terms, phishing refers to attempts by hackers to steal sensitive information from organizations by imposter, whaling attacks (pretending to be a senior officer at the organization)etc.
There is no fixed template of how phishing attacks generally occur. The attacks may use social media, email messages, phone call or even hacked office communication networks. There is no such thing as an impregnable network anymore, every apparently strong defence has an Achilles’ heel which hackers take a special interest in. Don’t lose heart yet, there are a few red flags to watch out for.
- Email messages that use hoax addresses and still try to convince the recipients of their authenticity, convincing that they are an employee within the company or of another organization the company is associated with.
- Phone calls from people trying to impersonate people from the tech support team or someone of authority within the organization or government organizations, the law and order department.
- Social media accounts are cult favourites (both personal and professional accounts). They are used by identity thieves to impersonate people.
But how does an employee identify a phishing attack? The core of phishing attacks is usually the inability of humans to easily authenticate each other. Computer systems are also often not made with inbuilt authentication systems.
Telephone phishing- Verifying a caller’s identity can indeed be a task. Names that appear on the caller ID are easy to impersonate, so even if the phone number of the authorized person is known or saved in the registry, there is no guarantee that the person on the other side of the line is who they say they are and unfortunately we aren’t equipped with voice detection in phones, let’s wait a few more years! Contact details present in personal proofs such as business cards tend to be verified.
Banks, governments, or courts hardly ever call to request personal information. In the circumstance that they do, their phone calls are standard. Asking for the caller’s name, title, and department, and cross-checking with a publicly listed and available number of that institution would help clear any ambiguity.
Email- Phishing emails are certainly the most common threat that companies face. Attackers send seemingly legitimate emails from financial institutions, governmental organizations to coax users into visiting their website.
The attackers may then set up a counterfeit banking website that prompts the user to enter personal information that may be used to embezzle money. The personal information may assist in identity theft schemes. The most robust way to verify the authenticity is by making use of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) software. Users should navigate to the website directly and follow prompts there instead of following links provided in unsolicited emails.
Websites- Phishing sites might impersonate a site that the employees may regularly visit. They might also be used to trick them into calling fake customer support cells, the ways to con are endless.
To avoid falling victim to phishing sites, it is advised to always check the URLs of the websites. Using a hardware two-factor authentication method is also a great way to avoid phishing. Some password managers can also help identify phishing sites, as they only auto-fill the passwords into websites that were previously authenticated.
As our ancestors often reiterated- better safe than sorry!
