This year has been a busy one for cybercriminals. Cyber attacks are up 400% compared to pre-pandemic levels, which equates to about 4,000 per day.
The strain on Framingham business technology infrastructures can be seen in the form of increased phishing attacks, more ransomware infections, and more time spent trying to ensure IT security safeguards are in place.
If you haven’t automated components of your business cybersecurity, you could be spending way too much time and money keeping up with the increase in threats and new malware variations.
In 2019, over 439,000 new malware variants were discovered.
Today’s cybersecurity goes way beyond just having an antivirus installed. Businesses need to worry about cloud security, mobile and IoT device security, credential theft, and much more.
By automating your business cybersecurity, you gain multiple benefits:
- Improve network security
- Reduce potential mistakes (missed updates, etc.)
- Save time
- Lower IT security administration costs
- Reduce the risk of a costly attack
How to Put Your IT Security on “Auto-Pilot”
Use a Firewall with Advanced Threat Protection
Standard legacy firewalls for networks will detect intrusions and alert you of a threat but the administrator has to take action to deal with the problem. This means if an alert comes in at 2:00 a.m. on a Saturday, it could be Monday before anything is done about it.
Next-gen firewalls with advanced threat protection use both machine learning and AI to detect threats and deal with them automatically. You can pre-program responses to different types of threats so that the entire process of detection and resolution are handled at once without any human interaction needed.
Automate Your Patch & Update Management
A full 60% of data breaches in 2019 were the result of unpatched system vulnerabilities.
Too often users click “later” on those OS and software update requests because they don’t want to stop what they’re doing. These can then often be forgotten, never installed, and leave a device completely vulnerable to an attack.
It’s difficult for a business to monitor all devices themselves to ensure each employee is installing their system updates in a timely manner. You can solve the problem by automating your updates through managed IT services.
A Pro Tech Guy, we remotely manage patches and updates for all devices in a business. We’ll ensure that updates go smoothly and are done in a way that doesn’t interrupt the user but does keep their device properly secured.
Email Spam & Anti-Phishing Filter
Another automation you can put in place is email filtering to block dangerous emails from getting to users. Most cyberattacks are done via phishing email, so by blocking these, you significantly decrease your risk of a ransomware infection, data breach, and more.
Spam and anti-phishing email filters can be set to send any potentially dangerous messages to a quarantine folder automatically. Once set up, the filter does its job in the background, keeping users protected.
Managed Backup & Data Recovery
Several types of cyber attacks can result in data loss and accompanying downtime. Both are extremely costly. The average cost of business downtime is $260,000 per hour.
You can properly protect your business by putting an automated cloud backup in place that’s professionally managed by your IT provider.
Managed backup and recovery ensures that backups haven’t suffered common problems like:
- Running out of space
- Being turned off by a user
- Software glitch
- Hardware conflict
- Problem with backup device
Managed backup is done automatically for you in the background and is monitored to ensure everything is running smoothly, and that all your business data is recoverable quickly when you need it.
Managed Antivirus/Anti-Malware
Another service that can save you time and money when it’s managed is antivirus/anti-malware. If you are relying on an unmanaged software on your computers, you could end up with it being turned off accidentally or by malware.
Certain types of malware will automatically deactivate simple antivirus programs, leaving your PC completely unprotected.
Managed antivirus/anti-malware is monitored, just like managed backups. Threat reports are reviewed, and any needed security precautions put into place for you automatically.
You can also be assured that updates are being handled in a timely manner, so the newest threats are being detected.
Managed antivirus is often part of a full suite of managed IT support services that work together to keep your business protected without you having to spend extra time or money dealing with cybersecurity incidents.
Sign Up for Affordable Managed IT Services with Pro Tech Guy
Managed IT services offer several technology advantages, including managed security, fast remote support, and more. Keep your IT secure and running efficiently for one low monthly price.
Contact us today to learn more and sign up. Call 508-364-8189 or reach us online.