A Security Operations Center (SOC) and a Security Incident & Event Management (SIEM) system are strategies that work jointly to monitor networks and identify potential data breaches. A SOC combines expert security personnel, technology, and processes to monitor networks and endpoints around the clock. The goal of the SOC is to proactively detect and remediate cyber threats to mitigate risk & damage. A SIEM system is used by members of the SOC as a central hub to visualize the data and alerts that point to suspicious network activity or potential cyber threats.
Passwords have been the main type of authentication to access accounts and systems for years. But we know passwords are far from impervious to attack. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) or Two Factor Authentication is an extra layer of security that uses a combination of 2 or more pieces of information to verify your identity. These are usually a mixture of something you know, like a pin number or a password. Something you have, like an app on your phone or key card for an office door. Or something you are, like your fingerprint. MFA should be viewed as the new bare minimum approach to securing your business accounts. Enabling MFA is a simple process and Microsoft states that MFA can prevent 99.9% of attacks on your accounts.
An Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) solution can be considered “modern antivirus’ and it works a lot like a security guard. EDR software continuously watches your computers and servers for signs of potential threats. Threats like phishing attempts, ransomware, and denial of service attacks. The bonus of EDR is that this “virtual security guard” will observe and stop these types of attacks automatically. Before they can spread from one device to the rest of your network. EDR will learn how your employees use their devices and will notice out of the ordinary behavior. If a user, file, or program begins to act suspiciously, EDR will detect and prevent any changes.
BCDR, or Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery, is a system that ensures a company’s ability to continue daily operations if impacted by an unexpected incident or disaster that takes down core business systems. Think of it as an advanced backup solution. We often see businesses implement either business continuity OR disaster recovery, but not always both. Unless the two are combined, you do not have an intelligent backup solution and could be facing significant downtime in the wake of a cyberattack, hardware failure, or disaster like fire or flood.
In today’s small business world, employee email accounts are full of hazards that could lead to a cybersecurity incident. That is why it is essential that employees are trained to protect data and spot threats. But training can be difficult to coordinate and ineffective if it only occurs once or twice a year. One of the best ways to ensure that your employees can protect your organization is with ongoing cybersecurity awareness training. This approach to security education helps your business create a cybersecurity culture and develop employee accountability. Security awareness training will give your staff the tools to navigate the digital world, recognize threats, and respond to them properly. All on an automated schedule that you can control and adjust as needed.
IT changes are unavoidable. Account permission changes, transitioning to a new software, moving data to the cloud, and adding new employees are common occurrences in the small business world. A change management system can improve the implementation of these changes but also overall cybersecurity. Unexpected changes, like a new administrator account being created or a password being changed can be a sign of a breach. A change management tool that can monitor for these types of adjustments can be instrumental in mitigating risk by giving your IT team advanced notice. The timeline that a change management process creates can also be invaluable when faced with troubleshooting an unexpected issue after a change has been made.
For most, managed IT services means the practice of outsourcing maintenance and support of your business’ IT infrastructure and data. For us at The Purple Guys, it is more than that. Not only do we keep your networks and devices operational and secure, but we enable your employees to work consistently and efficiently. This allows business owners to focus less on IT issues and more on better serving their customers or growing the business.
An IT department is so much more than fixing computers. Performance, security, compliance, data backup, user access, procurement, growth, and scalability being just a handful of items on the long list of an owner or administrator’s duties. At The Purple Guys, we have expertise in all of these categories and more. Learn how we can help you elevate your IT Department from fixing computers to a fully managed technology department.
