Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1386104
66 I ICT TODAY The year 2020 saw more intrusions than ever before... CYBERSECURITY BEST PRACTICES While NFPA 72 loosely addresses cybersecurity, it is a critical business component for all vertical industries. As more and more people work remotely, the risks for potential hacking increases. This is especially true for data centers, which may be most vulnerable to hackers. Almost everyone locks their doors to keep unwanted people outside, protect those inside from harm, and prevent theft or damage to property. A determined criminal will likely try different ways to get into a home, such as an open window, the back door, or perhaps an open garage door. The same is true for hackers. If they cannot take the least path of resistance, they will try other ways to get what they want whether through phishing scams, backdoor operations, or simply logging in using a standard password that was never changed. Perhaps one of the best resources that addresses cybersecurity and best practices to employ in the coming year is the Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report (DBIR) 2020. To develop the 2020 DBIR, 80 different contributors participated in this report. The DBIR team analyzed 32,002 security incidents of which 3,950 were confirmed breaches. The more people know about the threats they face, the better the chances of keeping data secure and the enterprise's name out of the headlines. The DBIR aligned their findings with the Center for Internet Security (CIS), critical security controls group to provide a way to translate the DBIR into security efforts. Here are the top controls that the DBIR suggests will be worthwhile for most organizations: • Continuous Vulnerability Management: Use this method to find and remediate things like code-based vulnerabilities; also great for finding misconfigurations. • Secure Configurations: Ensure and verify that systems are configured with only the services and access method needed to achieve their function. • Email and Web Browser Protection: Lock down browsers and email clients to give your users a fighting chance when facing the Wild West that we call the internet. • Limitation and Control of Network Ports, Protocols and Services: Understand what services and ports should be exposed on your systems, and limit access to those. • Boundary Protection: Go beyond firewalls to consider things like network monitoring, proxies and multifactor authentication. • Data Protection: Control access to sensitive infor- mation by maintaining an inventory of sensitive information, encrypting sensitive data and limiting access to authorized cloud and email providers. • Account Monitoring: Lock down user accounts across the organization to keep bad guys from using stolen credentials. Use of multifactor authentication also fits in this category. • Implement a Security Awareness and Training Program: Educate users on malicious attackers and on accidental breaches. Think of this as adding both locks to a house and an additional security system—belt and suspenders.