When asked who needs cybersecurity, most companies think it won’t happen to them. But would you even know if you were being hacked right this minute? The reality is, there were 12 separate breaches in 2019 where more than a million records were compromised, affecting ERP systems in financial services, telecommunications, retail and even medical research.
Cybercrime occurs in various ways, such as hacking, malware, phishing, and spamming. Or maybe you’ve heard of ransomware, also known as ransom malware. This is when a company is blocked from accessing their systems or data unless they agree to pay a ransom.
Cybersecurity, then, protects your computer’s hardware, software, data, and systems from those attacks on your applications, networks, cloud and critical infrastructure. Having good security in place will prevent you from big losses and headaches.
If someone gets access to your ERP system, it can be disastrous for your business. They might sabotage your company or obtain financial and sensitive information to steal from you or take you down, whether that means halting your critical infrastructure or something else.
This is why it’s crucial that you have cybersecurity measures in place for ERP systems and activate any ERP security features you may already have built into your solution. Prevention is one aspect, of course, but it is critical to have a response plan in place should a breach ever happen.
There are ways to mitigate the cybersecurity risks your company faces and prevent such attacks from happening to you. Here are a few best practices that can help.
Make sure employees know all about the vulnerabilities your company faces, with examples of ways hackers may try to illegally access your systems. Knowing the threats out there helps everyone in your business be aware.
It might be hard to accept, but internal people with access to sensitive information and data can seriously harm your business if they have bad intentions. Employ role-based access control and segregation of duties to ensure position-based security.
Attacks on cloud stored data and software systems are common, but there are many other ways a company’s physical equipment can get stolen, leading to compromised information. Keep important hardware locked and secure. Make it difficult for people to steal physical items.
Sensitive information should never be left unsecured, so make sure you take steps to keep your information safe. Turn on full-desk encryption tools, and set employees computers to automatically log out after sitting idle.
Have a plan for what you will do if an actual breach does happen. Make sure you have a detailed monitoring system so you’re aware of events as soon as they happen and have a good response plan in place to deal with it afterwards.
At ERP Advisors Group, we have worked with all kinds of companies, including information security companies whose job it is to help businesses keep information safe and secure—and prevent and deal with the aftermath of cyberattacks. They’ll even train employees to ensure they understand the risks and mitigations of cyberattacks on your business. We can help you find the right cybersecurity provider for your ERP implementation, in order to discover any security vulnerabilities and safeguard your assets.
Cybersecurity might not be something you think about on a daily basis, but if you ever are the victim of an attack, the impact can be substantial—and very harmful. Make sure you have security measures for your ERP systems. After all, this is the backbone of your organization. If you need help finding a provider, contact ERP Advisors Group today.