As everyone knows, Cyberattacks are on the rise nationwide (view link). The most recent major attack came on February 21, 2024 when  one of the largest health insurance providers in the United States, fell victim to a cyberattack. This issue continues to affect healthcare services for millions of Americans. It goes without saying that Cyberattacks have evolved into a new form of threat that impacts all levels of society, including small organizations like yours and ours.

Ensuring your organizations is secure against cyberattacks is crucial. This involves not only implementing robust security measures but also training and guiding your employees on best practices for maintaining security. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, America’s cyber defense agency, recommends the following four steps to enhance your company’s safety. These steps echo UniVista’s recommendations for safe (link UniVista blog article: https://univista.com/posts/the-importance-of-cybersecurity-training-and-why-you-should-take-advantage-of-univistas-customer-training-opportunities/):

1. Enable Multifactor Authentication – UniVista recommends multifactor authentication as a standard practice on all systems. We know it can be a pain to enter a code at login, but a few seconds will save your team from days of heartache.

2. Update your software regularly – All UniVista customers receive updates to Windows, your core systems, and key applications as a standard part of your support agreement.

3. Be cautious with your clicks – Malicious actors are constantly figuring out better ways to hack you. Any innocent link could be a path to ransom wear. The best way to stay prepared is to always remind your staff to take their assigned cyber security training, which is included as part of your UniVista Support Agreement. Our training will help your team stay alert when reading unexpected email and unfamiliar web pages.  Published statistics show that a staff educated in proper on-line security measures is 300% less likely to click on a malicious link or enter their information into a fake website.

4. Use complex passwords – Strong passwords are mandatory in any environment. In fact, your support agreement with UniVista states that if you don’t use a complex password, your environment can not be properly secured.  

In addition to these steps, UniVista recommends that you have a Business Continuity and Security plan in place. These plans tell your team how to behave when there is a cybersecurity event, or natural disaster.

A Business Continuity plan will instruct your team on what to do if systems are unavailable or communication with key personnel and decision makers is interrupted. A Business Continuity plan is critical to the survival of your business in trying times. If you don’t have a Business Continuity plan, UniVista will help you develop one.

A Security plan describes the processes that keep your environment secure. It addresses proper usage of a computer, what can be installed on a computer, and the processes your staff are authorized to use to allow a 3rd party to access your systems. Many aspects of a security plan, like encrypted support agents, regular authorized UniVista staff updates, password policies, and system security, are built into your support agreement with UniVista.

UniVista wants you to be safe, secure and productive. If you have any questions about this or any other article we post, please ask. Your ongoing feedback is always considered as we continue to improve our processes.