Don’t let the ads fool you—there’s no such thing as a quick fix. Say we want to lose 20 pounds. Can we pop a magic diet pill, drop the weight and keep it off long-term? Unfortunately not. It requires continuous effort. The same goes for cybersecurity. We can’t simply buy a flashy new service to stave off online threats permanently. Protecting our systems requires steady and strategic efforts. That’s where cyber hygiene comes in.
Think of cyber hygiene as a collection of small, repeated actions and processes. The aim is to decrease the risk of a successful breach or attack. These fundamental security tactics will differ depending on the organization and the industry. Before starting, we may ask ourselves, “What threats exist in our field?” A thorough risk assessment will allow us to focus on concrete areas of concern and address issues with a credible operational impact.
Once we have a clear idea of our risks, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommends incorporating these actions into a voluntary cybersecurity framework. This outline of best practices includes three primary components: the “Core,” cybersecurity and risk…
