Winbiz, the Swiss Federal Administration (once this past summer, and again in November), the SBB in early 2023, etc. Certain cyber-attacks have left their mark and caused a lot of ink to flow. But it doesn’t just happen to other people! In Switzerland, one in three SMEs has already been the victim of a cyber-attack.

What kind of “cyber hygiene” should you adopt to avoid putting your company in an unfortunate position? What are the best practices? A-One and Wincasa decided to take a closer look!

1. Understanding the risks
To be able to protect, you first need to get a lay of the land. So, the first step is to take stock of your IT assets. From a general standpoint, this involves identifying where the servers are hosted, the messaging system used, which tasks are outsourced, and which are subcontracted, etc. Then comes classifying the type of data the company processes, namely: personal data, intellectual property, financial data, etc.

If the saying goes that “with great power comes great responsibility”, then every company needs to bear in mind that any data it processes carries with it responsibilities – and if said data is hacked, it will be held responsible. This inventory is therefore essential.

2. Know your enemy
In The Art of War, Sun Tzu – the master of military preparation – stated some 2,500 years ago that “He who knows his enemy as he knows himself will not be defeated in a hundred battles”. To prepare for an attack, you need to know what your rival is doing. In terms of cyber-attacks, the most common are not ransomware, as you might expect, but phishing emails. And beware: phishing emails from a false address are now as real as ever!

So there are three key words: preparation, preparation, and preparation.

3. Securing telework: THE chink in the wall
Ah, teleworking – its flexibility, the possibility of getting up just a little bit later, or getting straight to work without having to deal with public transport… but also the possibility of using one’s personal computer without up-to-date antivirus software, or one’s email or a private cloud solution. In short, teleworking means holes in a company’s cyber security wall.

If you connect your home computer to the company network without any special security (for example, without a VPN), the firewall on the company’s internal network will be breached, thereby creating an opening. These practices therefore need to be strictly controlled.

Generally speaking, companies need to limit team access to data. The greater the level of access to data, the greater the risks, and the greater the damage if the computer is lost or falls into the wrong hands.

4. Backing up your data
It is of utmost importance to put in place a data back-up solution, be this on-site or outsourced. In the event of a cyber-attack, if you are using an external data storage solution, you can expect it to take several days to download the back-up. For the continuity of your business, it’s important to think about making vital files accessible as quickly as possible.

Lastly, adopting more frugal practices when it comes to digital storage – by, for example, not keeping files that are 15 years old – reduces the opportunities for hackers to attack.

5. Knowing how to react in the event of an attack
In the event of a cyber-attack, rapid response and best practices are two keys to limiting the attack’s damage and further spread. Cybersecurity management tools must always include an HR element, for example: which jobs should include cybersecurity in their specifications? What preparation exercises should be organised? How often? These are all questions that are no longer optional, and must be addressed.

Last but not least, new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) open the door to new vulnerabilities within organisations. So, rather than burying our heads in the sand, it’s better to keep a sharp eye out!