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HARDWARE-SOFTWARE SECURITY MEASURES

Computer security can take two forms. Software security provides barriers and other cyber-tools that protect programs, files, and the information flow to and from a computer. Hardware security protects the machine and peripheral hardware from theft and from electronic intrusion and damage.

Some of the hardware-software security measures include:

1.      Establishing strong passwords

This is one of the ways to strengthen your security. Use a combination of capital and lower-case letters, numbers and symbols and make it 8 to 12 characters long. One should definitely avoid using: any personal data such as your birth date, common words spelled backwards and sequences of characters or numbers, or those that are close together on the keyboard.

It is also advised that you should change your password, every 90 days and you should not hesitate to do it more frequently if their data is highly-sensitive.

2.      Put up a strong firewall

In order to have a properly protected network, firewalls are a must. A firewall protects your network by controlling internet traffic coming into and flowing out of your business.

3.      Install antivirus protection

Antivirus and anti-malware software are essentials in your arsenal of online security weapons, as well. They're the last line of defense should an unwanted attack get through to your network.

4.      Update your programs regularly

Making sure your computer is properly patched and updated is a necessary step towards being fully protected; there's little point in installing all this great software if you're not going to maintain it right.

Frequently updating your programs keeps you up-to-date on any recent issues or holes that programmers have fixed.

5.      Secure your laptops

Because of their portable nature, laptops are at a higher risk of being lost or stolen than average company desktops.

Encrypting your laptop is one of the ways one can have it secured. Encryption software changes the way information looks on the hard drive so that, without the correct password, it can't be read.

6.      Secure your mobile phones

Smartphones hold so much data these days that you should consider them almost as valuable as company computers and they are much more easily lost or stolen. As such, securing them is another must.

The must-haves for mobile phones:

a)      Encryption software. Password-protection through enabling a specific lock-out period, wherein after a short amount of time not being used, the phone locks itself.

b)     Remote wiping enabled. Remote wiping extremely effective for example if one lost their company mobile device after looking at company documents, he/she should contact the company’s IT department immediately to wipe the phone.

7.      Backup regularly

Scheduling regular backups to an external hard drive, or in the cloud, is a painless way to ensure that all your data is stored safely.

The general rule of thumb for backups: servers should have a complete backup weekly, and incremental backup every night; personal computers should also be backed up completely every week, but you can do incremental backups every few days if you like.

8.      Monitor diligently

An example of a monitoring tool is data-leakage prevention software, which is set up at key network touch points to look for specific information coming out of your internal network. It can be configured to look for credit card numbers, pieces of code, or any bits of information relevant to your business that would indicate a breach.

9.      Be careful with e-mail and surfing the Web

It's not uncommon for an unsuspecting employee to click on a link or download an attachment that they believe is harmless, only to discover they've been infected with a nasty virus, or worse. Links are the numbers one way that malware ends up on computers

As such, never click on a link that you weren't expecting or you don't know the origination of in an e-mail.

When surfing the Web, you should take every warning box that appears on your screen seriously and understand that every new piece of software comes with its own set of security vulnerabilities.

10.  Educate your employees

Teaching your employees about safe online habits and proactive defense is crucial. Educating them about what they are doing and why it is dangerous is a more effective strategy than expecting your IT security staff to constantly react to end users’ bad decisions.

Make sure your employees understand how important your company's data is, and all the measures they can take to protect it.

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