Corporate IT cybersecurity advices by Ben Climer right now: Improve Employee Wellbeing – According to a study conducted by Kaspersky Lab, 69% of the people surveyed reported having extra stress due to the news of cyber incidents. Employees will feel less anxiety if they are aware of cyber threats and company-wide security practices. Cyber Crimes Are Here to Stay – Finally, many industries rely heavily on technology. As technology advances and evolves, so do cybercriminals and their behaviors. Technology is not going anywhere, and neither are cybercrimes. It is imperative that all organizations have an ongoing Cybersecurity Awareness Training program. Create a Culture of Cybersecurity – Your employees can act as your first line of defense against cyberattacks. By training your employees about safe online computing, strong passwords, and more, you can ensure the confidentiality of sensitive business data. Find additional information at https://www.reddit.com/user/bclimer/.
Ben Climer has been in the Service Team Lead and Solution Architect role for 5 years. His favorite aspect of SNS is the great team we have, which allows us to deliver excellent service to our clients. When there’s a challenging problem at hand, Ben is the one we can count on for complete answers and elegant solutions. Ben built his first computer at the age of 8, started building web applications at 12 and before joining SNS, went on to compete in National Computer Repair competitions. He worked for HP as well as music row clients prior to joining SNS. Outside of work, Ben enjoys working on cars and traveling.
With over 10 years of work experience in the IT industry, Ben Climer is a passionate and skilled CTO at Safe Network Solutions, a leading provider of network security and cloud solutions. Ben Climer has a strong background in technical sales, network administration, and solution architecture. His mission is to deliver innovative, reliable, and cost-effective solutions that meet the needs and expectations of our clients. Collaboration, learning, and excellence, and striving to create a culture of trust, empowerment, accountability within the team are Ben Climer’s goals.
As the CTO, Ben Climer is responsible for overseeing the technical direction, strategy, and vision of the company, as well as mentoring a team of talented engineers and consultants. He has successfully implemented and troubleshooted various projects involving Hyper-V, Azure, Office 365, AWS, and wireless point-to-point technologies, ensuring high performance, security, and scalability. He also participated in various CTF competitions, demonstrating proficiency in cloud and cybersecurity. Ben Climer enjoys staying updated on the latest trends and developments in the IT field, and sharing his knowledge and insights with the community.
And then there’s the not-insignificant concern of lost smartphones. A lost business phone in the wrong hands could be a complete disaster. At the very least, all phones used to conduct business should have password protection, whole-disk encryption software and a remote lock-and-data-wipe app. That way, you can erase all the information on a lost phone and prevent anyone else from using it. The rise of flexible work-from-home policies has been a major trend in recent years, which is generally great for employee morale but not so great in terms of security. It’s tricky but obviously crucial to keep up security measures when employees are doing their jobs remotely. The guidelines about smartphones apply here, but you also need to ensure that strong safeguards are in place on all company computers and devices, no matter where the employee is working.
All employees should be trained on the use of passwords. Examples of such training would include: Making sure employees do not write passwords down (where they can be stolen). Ensuring employees do not share passwords over any online communication, unless the communication is encrypted. Having employees create strong passwords and use a company password manager. Making sure employees do not re-use passwords for multiple company applications, or between personal and company use.
Lock Devices Down. Most smartphones, laptops, and tablets come equipped with security settings that will enable you to lock the device using a PIN number or fingerprint ID. Do this on every available device. While traveling, change the PIN numbers you regularly use. In the event that any of your devices have been momentarily misplaced or forgotten, this will be the first line of defense against a security breach.
Use Strong Passwords & Use a Password Management Tool. You’ve probably heard that strong passwords are critical to online security. The truth is passwords are important in keeping hackers out of your data! According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) 2022 new password policy framework, you should consider: Dropping the crazy, complex mixture of upper case letters, symbols, and numbers. Instead, opt for something more user-friendly but with at least eight characters and a maximum length of 64 characters. If you want to make it easier to manage your passwords, try using a password management tool or password account vault. LastPass FREE is a great tool for an individual. LastPass offers a FREE account and has a $2/month membership with some great advanced password features.
Ben Climer and Safe Network Solutions about data breaches: How do Data Breaches happen? The assumption is that a data breach is caused by an outside hacker, but that’s not always true. Reasons for how data breaches happen might sometimes be traced back to intentional attacks. However, it can just as easily result from a simple oversight by individuals or flaws in a company’s infrastructure. Here’s how a data breach can occur: An Accidental Insider. An example would be an employee using a co-worker’s computer and reading files without having the proper authorization permissions. The access is unintentional, and no information is shared. However, because it was viewed by an unauthorized person, the data is considered breached.