2024 Cybersecurity Playbook: A No-Nonsense Guide for Marketers and Business
The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) reported receiving a cybercrime complaint every 10 minutes in 2022. Traditional phishing attacks and targeting of large companies are evolving into more sophisticated breaches, now even affecting small and medium-sized businesses.
Hence, the cost of cybercrime for medium businesses surged by 87%. The recent data breach like Ticketmaster shows the motive of these hackers is financial gain from selling data like sensitive customer information, financial records, and intellectual property. Once your website is hacked, you will have to prepare for the expenses of restoring it and lose your customers’ trust and possibly even your customers. In this article, we will guide you through the essential steps to ensure your website remains safe and secure in 2024.
AI on Cybersecurity
IBM reported that organisations could save an average of $USD 2.22M by using AI and automation in their security tools. AI solutions are helping businesses analyse large amounts of data and detect unusual behaviour that might indicate a cyberattack. These tools do the hard work for businesses, staying alert for any potential threats before they cause extensive damage.
However, cybersecurity is a complicated issue that often requires advanced machine learning, which is reflected in the high cost of the best tools. Small and medium businesses, looking for more affordable options, can easily fall into the trap of malicious AI software disguised as budget-friendly solutions. A Gartner survey highlights this risk, pointing out that AI-enhanced malware has become a major threat. These malicious tools can generate harmful code, assist in phishing, and make attacks even more damaging, especially for users who aren’t fully aware of the risks. Therefore, it’s essential to take the time to carefully select a trusted cybersecurity provider.
Essential Cybersecurity Practices for 2024
Having a prevention procedure and system integrated into your website is a must. Your website is where your customers interact with you, whether it is to make transactions or ask questions, it contains millions of dollars worth of data. Therefore, creating a roadblock for hackers plays a part in protecting your customers. Below are some really effective cybersecurity tools you must have on your website.
Cloudflare Integration
Cloudflare is a strong tool for protecting websites from threats like Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which can overwhelm your server and cause your site to crash. Cloudflare’s DDoS protection works by filtering out harmful traffic before it can impact your site, keeping it accessible to ‘real’ users.
Our recent partnership with Just In Time Packaging for their new eCommerce platform consisted of adding their site to a CDN. Cloudflare’s Content Delivery Network (CDN) not only speeds up your website by delivering content from servers closer to your users, but it also spreads the load across multiple servers, which also has the benefit of reducing the risk of your platform being compromised by hackers with its increased resilience against cyber-attacks.
Security & Permission Policies:
The Australian Signals Directorate provides security and permission policies through the Information Security Manual (ISM). The ISM is a cybersecurity framework that organisations can use to protect their IT systems, applications, and data from cyber threats. It’s also important to consider laws like the GDPR and the Australian Privacy Act, especially the GDPR if your customers or audience includes people from the European Union. Following these laws helps ensure that your business handles data properly and legally.
Tailored security protocols, like deciding who can access certain data or systems, are crucial for ensuring that content is loaded safely and data is handled correctly. This can include setting clear rules for data access, regularly checking your security practices, training your team on data security, and using encryption to protect sensitive information.
Login and Session Protection:
While these steps add security, it’s important to balance them with usability to ensure a smooth user experience. This includes limiting login attempts and using captchas can help reduce the risk of brute-force attacks, where hackers try to guess passwords. Using password hashing to securely store passwords also adds another layer of defence, making it much harder for attackers to gain access even if they breach your database. Additionally, implementing secure session cookies, enforcing HTTPS, and setting session timeouts are effective ways to avoid session hijacking.
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is another option. While SMS-based 2FA is widely used, there is a risk of mobile provider hijacking by hackers. Despite this, it’s still a valuable security step if used with caution. Authentication apps provide a more secure alternative since they generate codes directly on the user’s device, reducing the risk of interception.
Final Thoughts
Even though technology has come a long way and many products suggest you can handle cybersecurity on your own with their software, the truth is different. In fact, 68% of companies are more vulnerable to cyberattacks because they don’t have experts handling their website security. A sleek-looking website is great, but without proper security, your business is at serious risk.
As a full-service digital agency, we know how important it is to have a website that looks good and stands strong against cyber threats. That’s why we offer a full service to organisations like yours, ensuring your website is not only visually appealing but also well-protected.
