Stephen Riddick Featured On WNCN Regarding Equifax’s Data Breach

You Must Do More Than Just Freeze Your Credit. You Must Also Protect Your Small Business.

If you’re like many who were affected by the Equifax Data Breach, you rushed to freeze your credit and sign up the free credit-monitoring they’re providing. But, this isn’t enough to protect. There’s much more for you to do.

Watch our very own Stephen Riddick on WNCN.

Not only must you ensure your credit is monitored, but you need to take additional steps. Experts say freezing credit only prevents less than 5 percent of financial crimes.

In the U.S., 143,000,000 people’s personal information was compromised including Names, Addresses, Dates of Birth, Social Security Numbers. Ten years and further down the road, this data will remain compromised.  You can’t change your birth date and Social Security Number, so If your information was stolen, it could potentially impact you the rest of your life.

It’s a fact that our digital personal information is always going to be vulnerable to cybercriminals. “Solutions such as credit freezes or credit monitoring will be just as normal as an insurance policy is for you,” says Stephen Riddick of CSP Computer Service Partners. “We will see credit freezes or credit mechanisms become a way of life, just like everything else.”

To protect your credit card and bank accounts, you should set up fraud alerts with your banks and credit card companies. You also need to constantly monitor your accounts to check for unauthorized transactions.

Riddick notes: “A lot of these criminals start with a small transaction to see if they have a hook. Then they come back later to make a larger transaction.”

You Must Not Only Protect Yourself But Your Small Business as Well.

It’s not just individuals who need to worry about the Equifax data breach. Small businesses are also going to be hurt. You must be proactive, and protect your business BEFORE a breach occurs.

Whether you own a small landscaping company or a big construction business, the steps you must take to protect it will vary. There isn’t one single security measure that’s going to be the silver bullet for all scenarios. 

“Most stats show upwards of 50 percent of all security breaches hit small SBEs (small business enterprises),” says Riddick. “When it comes to a protecting a small business from data breaches, one size does not fit all. From a technology standpoint, there are different layers you can do. Talk to an expert who understands your business and where your technology assets are, and build a custom plan for your specific business.”

Your business requires a layering of security solutions like CSP provides.  Developing a secure network is an ongoing process as new threats are discovered every day. Securing a network includes consideration for email, internet, intranet, eCommerce sites, desktops, servers, network infrastructure, as well as user access policies. You must protect your network from external attacks, as well as internal employee misconduct and abuse.

Your Business Needs:

• Ongoing Security Assessments: This is a structured methodology to thoroughly assess all your information systems, current policies and procedures. Once your security assessment is complete, you will need a solution that takes into consideration current strengths and vulnerabilities, as well as your specific business objectives and budget.
• Email Security and Anti-Spam Security Services: Cost-effective cloud-based solutions allow you to minimize incoming unsolicited spam email. Plus, internet gateway technologies to scan email attachments and HTTP pages for viruses or malware to prevent them from compromising your network.
• Virus and Spyware Protection: With industry-leading solutions, you’ll have protection from new viruses and threats as they’re discovered. Virus protection solutions provide server and desktop virus scanning to prevent viruses from getting into your shared network drives and local desktop drives.
• Remote Access Security: You must ensure your remote users have consistently secured access to your network. For this, you’ll need a virtual private network that enables secure network access from anywhere over the internet, with file encryption methodologies that secure file transmissions.
• Wireless Network Security: Your wireless network should be set up to only be accessed by authorized wireless users, with authentication and encryption technologies that prohibit access by unauthorized users—A system that grants specific users access to approved data while giving you the option to limit and designate what guest users can access. Plus, all systems should be HIPAA and PCI compliant to ensure your data is always safe.

Intrusion Prevention and Detection: Intrusion (or hacker) detection and prevention is a key function of firewalls and other security solutions. This requires packet-filtering technologies that control network access by analyzing incoming and outgoing data. These technologies determine which devices can access your network. Plus, you’ll need to monitor and “lockdown” servers and desktop/laptop devices to prohibit evolving threats from erasing or corrupting data, or gaining unauthorized access to your systems.

CSP Inc. Provides All of This and More.

We’ll design and implement layered network security solutions through a combination of on-premise, remote-monitoring, and cloud-driven services. We’ll guard against potential security breaches, both from inside or outside your business. This way we can identify threats in real-time and remediate them before damage occurs. 

Don’t risk your or your business’ security. The next data breach is probably happening somewhere right now. Keep the criminals out of your network. Contact CSP Inc. for more information about our Layered Security Solutions at (919) 424-2000 or info@cspinc.com.