Early warning systems
During the holidays, the risk of overlooking security incidents is very high. In addition, attention spans are limited. This makes it easier for perpetrators to remain undetected for longer with ransomware attacks, unauthorized system access, or compromised accounts, which in turn can cause greater damage.
It is therefore essential to have EDRs, monitoring systems, SOCs, or advanced security operations structures, as well as other early warning and response mechanisms, active around the clock. In addition, all emergency plans and contacts, incident response, responsibilities, reporting and response channels, and IT on-call duty should be clearly defined, as acting as quickly as possible is essential in an emergency. Trying to save money on such security processes or even hoping for the best will not work.
Warning: Social Engineering
The festive season is also the peak time for social engineering attacks. The stress of the holidays means that people are more likely to click on links or attachments without questioning the messages. Whether it's supposed Christmas offers, appeals for donations, urgent orders, matters or transactions that absolutely must be completed before the end of the year – all of these provide the ideal cover.
For this reason, employees should be educated and made aware of potential dangers, especially before the holidays. Whether through short notifications, conversations, briefings, or short training sessions, e.g., with the help of videos, all of this can significantly increase awareness in the short term and be worth its weight in gold. But it's not just about pure attention. Awareness of the need to report suspicious activity immediately is also part of it. In addition, the security of one's own passwords and other personal vulnerabilities must, of course, be proactively questioned. The company cannot take this “awareness” away from individual colleagues.
Technical precautions
Not only should employees be well prepared, but so should a company's technology. Software updates should be carried out in good time. All backups should be intact and it should be ensured that all important data can be restored if necessary. Planned downtimes and maintenance should be brought forward. Essential access points, accounts, and services should be subject to increased protection mechanisms. Those that are not needed during the holidays can be temporarily blocked or restricted.
Administrator accounts must be checked. In addition, multi-factor authentication or more advanced identity solutions, e.g., for implementing the least privilege principle, should be used to prevent unauthorized access.
Conclusion
During the holidays, everyone wants to spend a festive time with their loved ones. Companies will inevitably be particularly vulnerable over Christmas and New Year's Eve. Added to this is stress or simply a lack of concentration at the end of the year and during the dark season.
To minimize worries, it is important to take precautions and develop and have concrete action plans in place for the areas mentioned above. Potential attacks will come to nothing if companies proactively harden their technology, have detection and response systems active around the clock, raise employee awareness, and define clear emergency processes. Then the most peaceful time of the year can come.
Our tip
Comprehensive, innovative IT security – that is our motto. As a leading cyber security enabler with over 20 years of market experience and industry-leading “all-in-one” managed services, we are also true experts in the security strategies and aspects mentioned above. We feel at home in practically all areas: from comprehensive security operations using our own DTS Cockpit, SOC, incident response, information security including emergency management, to security awareness, innovative backup concepts, and our proprietary “Made in Germany” DTS Identity as a solution for identity and access management, and much more.
We combine “around-the-clock” service with a German-European independent “IT security manufacturer” to become a comprehensive cyber security pioneer. Anyone can say that, right? Over 1,000 IT security and 1,400 managed services customers speak for themselves. In addition, 1,400 customers use software “Made by DTS,” i.e., from a top 10 security manufacturer in Germany.
Want to enjoy the holidays and the whole year without any worries? Then there's no way around DTS!