Ways To Protect Your Company From Zero-Day Attacks

It doesn’t matter what niche you are in, if you are using computers to store sensitive data in your company, you might be exposed to hacker attacks. The worst thing about hackers these days is that they don’t choose who they will attack. Anyone who is vulnerable is a good target. Therefore, if you want to protect your workers and sensitive data on your computers, you have to find a way to protect yourself from hackers. Today we are going to talk about the new kind of attack hackers use called the zero-day attack. What is it and how can you defend against it? If you want to find out, make sure to stay with us.

What Is A Zero-Day Attack?

In case you don’t know what a zero-day attack is, it is an incident where hackers take advantage of a flaw or an error in the software before developers can locate and fix it. Why is this form of attack so dangerous? Well, because the attackers are first to know about the issue and the developers have to make up for the lost time. This makes the developer’s job much more difficult because while they were unaware of the issue, hackers already managed to exploit it. To put it plainly, the zero-day attack occurs in the time frame after the users discover a flaw in the software and report it to the developer and before the IT experts start to work on an update with a security patch.

This attack is called “zero-day” because the developers have an unspecified number of days to fix the issue. However, they have to design a security patch as soon as possible. This way they can limit the exposure of the users.

A lot of security systems work on detecting threat signatures. The bad news with zero-day attacks is the fact that a flaw in software might not trigger the alarms. This is exactly what makes those attacks difficult to predict. But, is there a way to protect your software from zero-day attacks?

There is. Here are a few things you can do.

Taking Preventive Measures

The best way to protect your company from hacker attacks is to take preventive measures. In other words, to locate and eliminate issues before anyone else outside your organization might find them. This is especially true when it comes to zero-day attacks. How does one do this? Well, it’s simple, you just have to make sure that your IT staff is maintaining a good firewall and up-to-date antivirus. It may seem a bit obvious, but this is the best way to secure your software.

A reliable firewall and the thorough monitoring of traffic that comes in and out of your network will definitely reduce the number of unauthorized entries in the network. This will allow your software to stop suspicious activities, even without knowing the exact nature of the attack. This, of course, can help you to prevent possible zero-day attacks.

Having A Locked Down Network In The Office

Now, even though this might sound like something bad, it actually serves to protect the workers, users, and the company. In case a zero-day attack happens and the hacker makes it into your network, the most important thing you need to do is limit the things they can compromise.

You can do this by restricting user access to essential files and systems only. This is the best way to limit the damage if the zero-day attack happens. To put it plainly, the users from the IT department shouldn’t have access to information in the sales department and vice versa.

This way, if the hacker manages to compromise one account, the damage will be limited to that one network area. The rest of the company will be safe. This kind of limited damage is easier to control and fix.

Having A Good Data Backup

Considering the fact that zero-day attacks are difficult to predict, one of the best precautions you can take is having a good data backup. This can literally save your company in case of a hacker attack. Having a good data backup implies that you have the procedures in place to create backup copies on a regular basis and make sure they can be restored if needed. This will keep you safe against most attacks.

However, just as important, having good data backup will provide you with peace of mind. The fact that your data is secured will allow you and your employees to work without worrying about security threats.

Conclusion

Whatever it is that you do for a living, data security should be one of your priorities. Zero-day attacks may be unpredictable, but if you do the things we talked about today, you will be safe from hackers.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the management of EconoTimes