CommCore Blog and News

The rise of cyberattacks and breaches of security on US and global infrastructure has spurred another round of organizations stepping up efforts to protect themselves – whether they have previously been hacked or they could be next.

As CommCore CEO Andy Gilman wrote in a recent Forbes.com article, cyber protection has to be a team sport – with the team including the C-suite, IT, legal, forensics, risk management, internal and external communications. The key is making cyberattack prevention part of an organization’s culture. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Set laptop rules. In the world of remote work, it’s way too easy to let anyone sign on to the work laptop used in the home, including kids playing videogames and doing homework. If it’s a company issued laptop and there are other devices in the home, the rule is: only the employee is permitted to work on that laptop. Period. If it’s a shared laptop no one is allowed to plug in a USB drive or other device unless company IT has screened it first.
2. Use password managers. Hackers – whether human or BOTs – live for simple passwords like 1234 or “password.” Duh! A password manager does the trick by creating random passwords with letters, numbers and special characters that make hacking harder. Password managers are also helpful for organization social media accounts.
3. Conduct drills. No firefighter has successfully fought a blaze by just reading the manual. Similarly, a cyber crisis plan needs to be tested, either in “table top” exercise or a more involved hands-on simulation when team members react in real time to changes in events, actions by hackers and responses from stakeholders and news reports in the media and social media comments. The result of an effective simulation is a team that will react faster and make fewer mistakes.