Large-scale operations are often the target of security issues simply due to the operation’s scale and the value of its assets. With that in mind, strengthening enterprise IT security is an investment these companies cannot ignore.
Enterprise IT Security Best Practices
This article will cover best practices that enterprise-level companies should already apply to their businesses.
Keep software and hardware up to date
As a healthy rule to follow, you should always be up to date with both your software and hardware. Neglecting to do so can leave businesses vulnerable to various security threats and breaches.
When the developers dispatch updates on your hardware and software, that usually involves finding vulnerabilities they didn’t discover before. That’s why if you miss out on software and hardware updates, you might not get the security patches these updates come with.
That’s also a good reason you should consider having dedicated software support. It is a great way to ensure software and hardware are updated as often as possible. Software support is crucial for any enterprise-level company to ensure that there will be zero downtime and vulnerability in its IT operations.
As for why it’s helpful to update your hardware, you should have up-to-date hardware for your line of work whenever possible. It’s a great way to reduce maintenance costs and energy usage while using the latest tech for your company, keeping you competitive in the market.
Also, in some cases, software updates no longer apply to your hardware if it’s too old and outdated. That’s another critical reason to update your hardware in the appropriate timeline.
Updating software and hardware should be considered a proactive rather than reactive measure. It’s about good security and health and not just waiting for something terrible to happen before you do something about it.
Perform routine checks and scans
Another preventative security practice that will help with your overall enterprise security would be the regular performance of security scans.
By conducting regular scans, you can proactively identify any weaknesses or security gaps within their systems. This habit allows you to address these issues promptly before malicious actors can even think about exploiting them.
These scans help identify unauthorized access points, malware infections, or outdated software that may risk the organization’s infrastructure.
Furthermore, performing regular scans demonstrates a commitment to maintaining a solid security posture. It showcases an organization’s dedication to protecting its assets, customers, and stakeholders from potential cyber threats.
Aside from scanning for vulnerabilities, these regular scans can bring up performance issues that could improve your security system. Therefore, it’s also a great way to enhance enterprise security performance since it will help you discover potentially undiscovered parts of your security process that aren’t serving their purpose in the most efficient way possible.
Another reason why you should conduct more regular vulnerability scans is because of legal compliance. An enterprise-level company would usually have to comply at a certain level with data and privacy laws, and if you don’t, you could lose the certifications you need. You can lose your customers’ and investors’ trust when you don’t have these.
Implement proactive security precautions
There’s a reason why we’ve been repeating the importance of proactivity in security: it reduces the risk of getting an attack in the first place. There are different security precautions that you can take that will be more proactive, some of which we’ll be covering later on in this article.
Examples of proactive security precautions for enterprise security include regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing. Also, taking the time to do regular compliance audits is essential to your security precautions.
These measures help identify potential weaknesses in the network infrastructure or applications, allowing organizations to patch them promptly.
To summarize, proactive security precautions are simply those measures and practices you have that are about finding vulnerabilities and then fixing them or avoiding risky procedures that can compromise enterprise security.
Establish Zero-trust architecture
If you don’t know what it is, zero-trust architecture will operate under the principle of never trusting anything, even when they’re coming from within your system. It assumes no user or device should be inherently authorized within a network, regardless of location or previous authentication.
This approach requires continuous authentication and authorization checks for every user and device attempting to access resources. It minimizes the risk of unauthorized access and lateral movement within the network, as each request is thoroughly evaluated before granting access.
This approach is an excellent way to reduce internal risks from affecting your enterprise security. Furthermore, a zero-trust architecture provides granular control over access privileges.
It allows organizations to segment their networks into smaller trust zones and apply specific security policies based on user roles, device types, and other contextual factors. This measure ensures only authorized individuals can access sensitive data or critical systems.
Create a recovery plan
Most security practices here are about prevention, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t prepare yourself for negative security encounters. You wouldn’t want to have solid defenses but then find your security is lax when it comes to actually addressing active security threats to your enterprise. Thus, it would be best if you created a recovery plan.
Should the worst happen, a recovery plan acts as a safety net, allowing businesses to swiftly respond to and recover from security breaches or system failures. It outlines the necessary steps and procedures to restore operations, ensuring minimal disruption to business continuity.
During an emergency, this recovery plan will ensure that all stakeholders know their roles and responsibilities during an incident, promoting efficient coordination and communication.
Having specific protocols in place will add some control to your security team when they need it the most. Therefore, it’s a chance to better the results of security threat encounters as much as possible.
Regularly backup and test data restoration
Part of preparing yourself in case something wrong happens would involve some form of backup data and data restoration for your system. Regular backups protect against potential data loss caused by various factors that don’t just affect malicious attacks.
Remember that data loss can happen because of system failures, natural disasters, or human error.
However, more than merely creating backups is required. Testing the restoration process ensures that the backup files are complete and functional. You wouldn’t want to rely heavily on the backup data only to realize that maybe they are corrupted or incomplete or they might not be up-to-date.
Conduct regular penetration testing
Regular penetration testing is vital if you want a security practice focusing on finding vulnerabilities that malicious entities can exploit.
Regular penetration testing allows you to assess your security infrastructure from the perspective of someone interested in attacking it. That way, you can identify any weaknesses or loopholes in your security system.
By simulating real-world attacks on your systems, networks, and applications, penetration testing provides valuable insights into potential entry points for hackers that a good defense practice will give you.
It helps you understand the effectiveness of your existing security controls and enables you to take proactive measures to address any vulnerabilities.
Conclusion
These security best practices should all be a part of your enterprise security practices already, but if you haven’t, now is the time to add them. By ensuring that you do these security practices, you can ensure that your assets are as safe as possible and that you know what to do should you encounter hiccups or a full-on security crisis.