The second Tuesday of April is designated as Identity Management Day, aimed at promoting security awareness and educating everyone about the risks associated with improperly managing and safeguarding their digital identities.
Compromised credentials leading to cybersecurity incidents are still the most prevalent cause of data breaches for both individuals and businesses. It is crucial for the security of any organization or individual to protect their digital identity.
Given that 84% of companies have experienced a breach related to identity in the past year, it is critical to ensure that you are taking all possible measures to safeguard your information. However, what exactly does this imply for both businesses and individuals, and what actions can you take to protect your identity?
For Individuals:
- Maintain good identity hygiene by never sharing or reusing passwords and creating strong ones. A password manager can assist you in storing and managing your passwords while generating strong ones that are less prone to hacking attempts.
- Recognize and report phishing attacks. The best rule of thumb is if you do not recognize the sender do not click on anything in the email or open any attachments.
- Keep your software up to date. Schedule any automatic updates that are available for your system.
- Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all your important accounts. This additional security layer can help prevent unauthorized access to your accounts even if your login credentials are compromised.
For Businesses, the following steps should also be taken in addition to the above:
- Prioritize conducting vulnerability assessments for identity management and addressing security vulnerabilities.
- Familiarize yourself with your data assets, identify sensitive information, and take measures to protect it. Collaborate with your IT department or Managed Service Provider (MSP) to identify potential system vulnerabilities and determine how to mitigate them.
- Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all your end users.
- Automate, automate, automate.
- Start a phishing testing and training program to train your users on spotting phishing emails and how to report them.
Tobin Solutions can help you with any of the above steps. Contact us.
