9 Cyber Security Tips for Staffing Firms

It’s all about the good conductor and the bad conductor; good can transmit electricity, and bad cannot. How will I know, how insulated I am to electricity so that I am not electrocuted? So, what will I do? I will go around my home and see if any contact point has leaks. Maybe this is the best I can do, or hire an electrician to check things thoroughly. Let’s understand the term contact point. In marketing, we use this term to say that we have enabled multiple points across prospects' day-to-day routines so that a prospect can contact us when he needs them, or we can get in touch with a prospect through this contact point when we need to.

Now, understand this: your staffing firm, or any company today, is working on the web. The basic contact point for your company (data) is the internet, and unfortunately, the internet is an extremely powerful conductor of data leaks. Your data is cyber exposed, so you don’t have to get in touch with cybercrime, a hacker / Cyber Threat has contact points everywhere, and they will get in touch with you when they need to.

So, before we dwell on how to insulate ourselves, let’s analyze what data we have. Most of us store data on the cloud, desktops, laptops, or online drives with open links so that most employees can access this data. If this open link falls into the wrong hands, it can lead to fraud, data theft, or other cyber crimes. This data breach usually happens accidentally or through employee misconduct.

What data can be siphoned off? Your employee SSN number, personal details, payroll information, client details, project details, employee bank details, medical information, taxes, billing details, and so on. So this data is not crucial to you because what will a hacker do with this data? He would be interested in your credit card details and similar stuff, isn’t it? No, this kind of data is extremely crucial, and what if it is hacked by 10 staffing firms? It can be a big threat if it is from 100 companies. From 1000 companies? It is a major threat, Isn’t it?

On the other hand, is this data in the hands of a mischievous employee? Then it’s a direct threat to you on the same day. Remember, any cyber threat, big or small, is not just a data compromise. It is a compromise on your reputation too.

Most of the Staffing organizations are designed with an onsite-offshore model for more efficient and low-cost operations. So, insulating your home is not just enough. Insulating your 2nd home (offshore) is also crucial. A data breach can happen when you transfer data between your homes, between employees, in your 2nd home, or in your 1st home. It can happen when you take printouts for Visa Renewals or download a report to analyze, or anywhere because your sales team is always on the move.

Here are your 9 Tips to Manage Cyber Risk

1. DO YOU HAVE A STRONG CYBER SECURITY POLICY?

Develop an appropriate policy on not just how to avoid it but also how to handle when data is compromised, accidentally or intent

2. UPDATES

Put a process in place to update firewalls, servers, antivirus, and operating systems whenever there is an update, not whenever you find the time. This may hinder your productivity for a few hours, but it’s wise.

3. MOBILE

If you use an application or mobile app that is internally developed or subscribed, safeguard mobile devices and have anti-virus installed on mobiles, too.

4. RESTRICTIONS – IP / LOCATION

Restrict data access according to IP address, and let data be accessible by employees only during the prescribed hours and not from anywhere unless needed. Restrict data location-wise too.

This exercise is about data security and not misleading your employee's trustworthiness.

5. TRAINING

Educate Employees about data security, how they can avoid human errors, how not to share files, and most importantly not to share data over the phone and not to share (anyone with a link can download) open links.

6. EVALUATE SECURITY

When outsourcing any business function or using a web-based application, evaluate thoroughly about data security, encryption, data backup, and your data access to them.

7. PASSWORDS

This is crucial. Passwords for applications, desktops, mobiles, servers, domains, and networks. Have highly complex passwords, including numbers, symbols, and capitals. Do not write down these passwords anywhere, and most importantly, do not save passwords in your web browser.

Changing passwords every 60 to 90 days is one of the best and most trusted practices.

8. REMOTE

Employees who work remotely or employees who work offshore secure their systems, too. A data breach can happen when an employee connects from an unsecured system or unsecured network to your secure office network, making a doorway to hackers. Accessing public wifi’s or lounge Wi-Fi is equally vulnerable.

Ensure that your employees use secured machines that you provide or ask your employees to use machines meant for the office and not their personal ones.

9. SECURED

Finally, we are trying to ensure that we don’t let leaks or data breaches go unattended. However, most of the attacks happen without our notice. Hiring a cyber security consultant to ensure we are secured and an insurance policy is in place to cover the liability of these attacks will help us run a safe and sound business.

I have covered major of the points. However, feel free to?leave your feedback?or any point that you think I missed here.

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