BUSINESSES from across the West Midlands heard from cyber-security experts at a seminar held by TheBusinessDesk.com, in association with Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership and IComm.
The panel, chaired by TheBusinessDesk.com’s editor Alex Turner, included Emma Philpott, the chief executive of cyber-security certification body IASME, Steve Borwell-Fox, managing director of Borwell, cyber-crime protection officer Det Sgt Chris Greatorex, and Icomm Technologies’ Mark Lomas.
This week, TheBusinessDesk.com will be running a series of articles about cyber-security and how your business can be better prepared.
To start, the Government’s Cyber Essentials scheme highlights five areas that are the foundation stones of any organisation’s cyber-security defences.
1. Boundary firewalls and internet gateways
Firewalls and gateways are the front door to the online world and are crucial to prevent unauthorised access to or from private networks. Having them in place is the first step, but good setup of these devices either in hardware or software form is important for them to be fully effective.
2. Secure configuration
Systems must be configured in the most secure way for the needs of the organisation
3. Access control
Not only do some businesses allow users to operate their machines in “administrator” mode, but there can also be little in the way of restrictions on who has access. Control of who has access, and at what level, is vital in helping to keep networks secure.
4. Malware protection
Install virus and malware protection – and make sure it is kept up to date
5. Patch management
Ensure the latest supported version of applications is used and all the necessary patches supplied by the vendor been applied. Patches are released whenever a vulnerability is spotted, but they are a double-edged sword. The patch enables everyone to fix the problem, but it also publicises the problem so those organisations who don’t update their system are much more vulnerable.
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2. Secure configuration
