The Philippines has been known to be among the most vulnerable in terms of exposure to natural disasters. However, threats to businesses and organizations are not only brought about by nature or the environment as these may also be human-induced such as terrorism, strike, loss of skilled personnel, and cyber threats, among others.
One of the most common cyber threats is ransomware which is viewed as a form of digital extortion, rendering computers and files of its victims unusable, and demanding payment in return for restoring the files.
It is not only large and multi-national companies that should be concerned with cyber security. Everyone connected on the internet is at risk for cyber security threats.
Even if they are among those who are vulnerable to cyber security threats, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have relegated IT concerns to the back seat in their list of prioritized activities due to limited finances, technology and human resources.
Here are some tips on how to guard against or mitigate the impact of cyber security threats:
- Raise awareness of employees on the existence of cyber security threats, and how they can prevent this from happening and how they can deal with these threats. This could even include simple reminders on email security – ensuring that the emails you receive are from legitimate sources.
- Establish cyber security protocols within your organization.
- Have onsite and offsite backup strategies in place for your important work documents. Local storage devices such as hard drives, CDs, etc. are used for onsite storage. While offsite storage is done through a remote server, usually via the Internet.
- Regularly test and monitor your back up strategies to know whether your backup is working fine, how long can your back up be retrieved, etc.
In line with Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), an attached agency of Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), has been touring around the country since August 2017 for the Cybersecurity caravan. CICC has created the strategy framework of Cybersecurity National Plan 2022 to secure online environment for all ICT stakeholders.
To know more about safeguarding your business and organization from cyber security threats, you may look into the following:
- Cyber security Guide for SME by the Center for Cyber Security Belgium in partnership with the Cyber Security Coalition Belgium for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
http://ccb.belgium.be/sites/default/files/documents/CCB-EN%20-C.pdf
- Cyber security is now mainstream in business by Vishal Salvi http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/cyber-security-is-now-mainstream-business/article9797377.ece
- National Cybersecurity Plan 2022
http://www.dict.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/NCSP2022.pdf - Security threats: a guide for small and medium enterprises by GFI Software https://www.gfi.com/whitepapers/Security_threats_SMEs.pdf