Identity: The Next Frontier
Fixing your security and locking your digital door: a 2023 resolution you can't ignore
IT and computers are a sphere of an industry that is exceptionally dynamic, so we should all expect change. However, it is the one constant in computing, especially given the “us versus them” hacking arms race we are all part of.
Five years ago, most of us did our work in the office, and, as such, most of the protection was focused on the firewall to keep what was outside out and inside in.
If only life were so simple today. Half of a company’s staff are outside, working remotely, and they expect every function of their job to be available as if they were inside. In addition, half your servers are outside too. Maybe servers are the wrong word, but as companies use more services like Monday.com, OneDrive or Dropbox, these services are on servers outside your firewall.
When you think about it, the only way to sleep happily in this modern environment is to be confident that whoever is logging in is who they say they are.
Security is more important than you think.
This is hardly a new problem, though. This is the same issue the banks have had for the last decade, and, as we know, if you want to be sure that a person is who they say they are, you give them a password, and then you give them a little dongle that generates the correct 4 or 6 digit code on queue.
If you are on Microsoft 365 (and let’s face it, who isn’t?), you can access this for nothing. However, less than 1 in 10 people have enabled this despite this bargain price. So, in summary, it’s simple, free, absolutely critical, and on the balance of probability, you haven’t done it yet.
At least part of the problem is that IT people are prone to hyperbole – we get very hot and bothered about stuff that Average Joe couldn’t care less about. I had a minor breakdown last week when presented with a client computer without a Solid–State Drive. The thing is, though, this isn’t one of those occasions. Hyperbole be damned. This is 10 million times more important than the next security item on your list.
Getting hurt by hacks
In the first nine months of 2019, over 27 million accounts were hacked on Microsoft 365, and every time a person gets hacked, it has a different personal story. Many are stories of real pain and hurt. People are losing serious money through hackers gaining access to email, for example, and then using that access to tell all your customers that their bank account details have changed or something similar. Some of these are very targeted and convincing, given that they can follow up on legitimate emails that you have already sent. So mark my words, if you don’t get ahead of this, you will have a real personal story of loss and hurt all your own.
Some of you may think the answer is to avoid Microsoft 365/Cloud Services. Unfortunately, this sort of logic can get a fella into trouble. It’s like deciding to live on the street because you hear people can get into your house if you don’t lock the door. Genius!
The real question for 2023 is: will you be bothered to take responsibility for your security, fix this, and lock your door? At Nitec, helping you get your head around stuff like this is why we get up in the morning, so if you need a hand, we would love to help.