What sole action can you take to protect your business IT?

It wasn’t that long ago when many businesses were kept secure by antivirus solutions that would eliminate almost every threat to your internal corporate network. 

Fast forward to the present, this has shifted dramatically with cyber criminals making use of much more sophisticated techniques to gain access to local businesses. 

With this in mind, in our latest blog article, we will provide you with a simple tactic that will help you to protect your business and employees safe from the threats posed by cyber criminals. 

Like with everything, it’s not 100% full proof but as close as its going to get. If your business doesn’t have the below option integrated into your business then you should really pose the question to your current IT provider as to why you are paying for their service. 

The option we are talking about above is multi-factor authentication which is also referred to as two-factor authentication (MFA or 2FA). 

It sounds like some sort of technical buzzword which is really complicated, however this can't be any further from the truth as this protocol is simple to implement and will significantly reduce the chances of your business being held hostage over encrypted data. 

The best thing about it is the fact that it's very effective in preventing a whole host of different cyber-attacks which can put a business out of actions for days if not weeks which can be extremely costly. 

How does it work? 

Your current IT security provider (if you don’t have a current IT provider, Advantage can provide you with this service) should be able to setup the MFA for all of your web-based IT services. This comes to include things like Office 365 which is usually the most common. 

After this authentication has been enabled, you will be asked to sign in as you normally would to access your online cloud services except there will be an extra verification check required via a notification to your mobile device to give you access to your online cloud services. 

How does this multi-factor authentication protect my business? 

It’s relatively straightforward to understand as all the phishing emails that bypass firewalls and filters don’t have that third level of authentication. 

Granted, you or one of your colleagues may have accidently given their email address and password to a cybercriminal, however without using mobile phone verification, there’s no chance for the scammer to gain access to your IT systems. 

What other advantages can this multi-factor authentication provide? 

This might be stating the obvious but even with a username and password, a cybercriminal will not be able to access your IT systems as well as this it helps to reduce the complexity requirements for passwords and expiry times. 

How many instances have you been asked to enter a new password because your old one is out of date? With multi-factor authentication, you are now able to retain your passwords for longer and make them much easier to recall. 

Next Steps? 

If you are looking for a new managed IT provider to get multi-factor authentication setup in your business or are looking for other cyber security solutions to help protect your business online then please contact our team of IT experts today to discuss your specific needs. 

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