Businesses, both large and small, are increasingly reliant on the internet for daily operations, creating attractive and potentially lucrative targets for cyber criminals. As a new era of work from anywhere is ushered in, traditional in-office firewalls don’t work. A cyber attack can cripple any size company.
Recently Macomb County Business Planning and Economic Development (MCPED) posted statistics on LinkedIn to support Cybersecurity Awareness Month. MCPED shared resources and information to help you educate and prepare your organization to be cyber prepared.
Preparing and Preventing
When considering different vendors, here are some things to keep in mind when preparing and preventing a cyber-attack:
Identify:
Identify and control who has access to your business information
Identify your IT assets and possible threats
Conduct background checks
Require individual user accounts for each employee
Create policies and procedures for cybersecurity
Protect:
Limit employee access to data and information
Automate protection - Email filters, firewall, web filtering
Patch operating systems and applications routinely
Secure wireless network
Use encryption
Train your employees
Detect:
Install and update antivirus, anti-spyware, and other anti-malware programs
Maintain and monitor logs
Utilize threat hunting services
Respond:
Develop a plan for disasters and information security incidents
Threat hunting service will ensure quick response while the issue is still small
Recover:
Make full backups of important business data and information
Continue to schedule incremental backups
Consider cyber insurance
Make improvements to processes, procedures, and technologies
Resources for Businesses
Below are a few resources for business who are just starting a cyber prevention plan or those who may be looking to update or modify their plan.
Michigan State Police (MSP)
MSP offers free cyber assessments to help your business decided what the next steps are.
State of Michigan
Michigan Cyber Partners has multiple resources for businesses including a list of pre-approved vendors for Independent Cyber Assessments.
Michigan Defense Center
The center has pre-qualified Michigan contractors to provide cybersecurity technical services to meet requirements and direction for all United States Department of Defense (DoD) and Homeland Security (DHS) contracts and work in the federal supply chain. Grants are available to begin the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) process and to pursue DoD cybersecurity compliance.
Defense Cybersecurity Assurance Program (DCAP)
In partnership between the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, and Purdue University to create a more cyber-secure supply chain, DCAP has created a catalog of resources to support cybersecurity compliance throughout the Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio regions.
Cybercrime Support Network
This is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created to meet the challenges facing individuals and small businesses affected by cybercrime. They have resources available for businesses affected by cybercrime and help identify scams.
Additional resources are available to ASE Members via our research databases (CCH, Zywave, McLean) via the ASE Member Dashboard.