As more and more of our personal and professional lives are being shared online it’s important to understand how to protect our information, and take measures to keep safe in this digital world.

The biggest security concerns by those surveyed as part of Deloitte’s annual Global Security Study were lack of security awareness, using third parties for service networks and cloud services and the introduction of more mobile devices into the workforce.

Deloitte and Symantec have joined together to put together a fairly dramatic example of how cyber-attacks can happen. While it may seem a little elaborate for smaller organisations, the reality is that there are many different ways people possibly access your private data.

Cyber security tips for your not-for-profit

If your NFP is worried about its security, here are some basic things you should always keep in mind are:

• Set tricky passwords to make it harder for hackers. If you need some help, Microsoft has some simple ideas for adding complexity while still remembering your important password here.  
• Be careful of opening files with more than one file-type extension in email attachments (such as landscape.jpeg.vbs) and block them wherever possible.
• Keep your work backed up on a separate hard-drive or on a cloud service such as Dropbox, so that if anything does happen to your computer, you don’t lose all of your valuable documents, files and photos.
  • Take care on public networks and ‘free internet access’ spots.  In particular, do not send or access personal or financial details if you’re not using a secure and private network.
  • Use anti-virus softwarethat has the ability to automatically update itself to provide quick and seamless protection that you won’t have to think about. We encourage you to do your own research, but a couple of options are:  
    • Symantec provides a range of products to ensure the overall safety of your computer and your data. Backup Exec 2012, System Recovery 2011 and Endpoint Protection 11.0 all protect your data from being lost in a computer crash or virus. Symantec’s Norton Anti-virus protects your organisation form viruses, spam, and other threats as well as reducing costs by keeping your computers running smoothly.
    • ONO Internet Security Product protects you from the threats of the Interent, offering you a backup solution and improve the performance of your computers. 

We know that cyber security is not often the first thing we think about when it comes to setting up our computers, networks, and organisations; but with the risk of losing the privacy of data and losing files altogether, it is definitely worth the time and investment. So if you haven’t already thought about protecting the information on your computer, it could be worth putting down as a must-do for your not-for-profit’s IT.

Via CIO