How to Layer Your IT Security to Reduce Cyber Security Risks for Businesses

In part 1 of this series on reducing cyber security risks for businesses, we discussed 7 ways you can maintain your cyber security. In part 2, we discussed the top attack vectors cybercriminals use to infiltrate your IT security. 

Here in part 3, we’ll talk about how to layer your cyber security, so you can block those cyber thieves from stealing your data. 

 TL;DR: A layered cyber security approach places multiple obstacles in the way of cybercriminals. This increases the odds that the cybercriminal will fail in their attempts to breach your systems. Contact Interplay to learn more. 

What Is Layered IT Security? 

Simply put, layered cyber security is the tactic of using multiple prevention methods to protect your IT. If a cybercriminal breaches one defense, you’ll have others in place to stop him/her/them on their next step. 

You can think about layered security like you think about the ways to protect yourself from the coronavirus. Though no method is failproof, we all know at this point there are multiple “layers” of defense you can use to significantly reduce your risk of infection: get vaccinated and boostered, wear a mask, wash your hands, and avoid indoor crowds. By themselves, each of these holds minimal effectiveness but, put together, they add up to a strong defense. 

How Layered IT Security Reduces Cyber Security Risks for Businesses

Another way you can think of layered security is as an obstacle course for cybercriminals. 

What those cyber tyrants want is a straight track leading directly into the heart of your data – what you give them is a test of endurance. Sure, dedicated criminals may succeed in breaching your spam filter and your office firewall, but after that they’ll still have to overcome your CYBERSAFE employees and your Zero Trust network. 

Odds are that they’ll give up. This is exactly what you want. 

Crafting Your Layered Approach for Cyber Security Risk Management

Layered cyber security is often divided into the categories of people, processes, and technology because all three must work together to create a unified front against cyber theft. 

Tip: Getting your staff up to speed on cyber security will take some training time and effort on your part. Your managed IT services provider should be able to handle all this training for you if you don’t have the time to handle it yourself. 

  • Processes. Let’s be honest here: most people find IT management boring as all heck. Computers, equipment, and devices require constant updates and patching – not to mention backups and file permissions management. It’s a real pain in the neck to handle the endless needs of computers – and it’s only human to avoid doing things that bore us. 

Tip: Creating daily processes for patching, backups, and Zero Trust security management help ensure that even the dullest tasks are accomplished regularly. But if you and your staff really hate spending hours on this stuff, hire one of us weirdos who gets a kick out of IT management: a managed services provider! 

  • Technology. Perhaps this is moving us closer to the singularity here, 😉 but another great way to manage your technology… is with technology.  Computers and servers are tireless (as are cybercriminals) and deploying tech to tackle tech is a great way to reduce the time your human staff needs to spend on monitoring all those tricky cyber security risks for businesses. 

Tip: Endpoint Detection and Response relies on automated processes to ID and quarantine anomalous behavior within your network, and Managed Detection and Response adds a human element to the task to assess the severity of all that anomalous behavior. Another great tool is a password manager like 1Password, which makes it easier to use tough-to-crack passwords at your company. Don’t forget to use MFA!

Simplify Cyber Security with a Managed Services Provider Near You

As the pandemic rages on and exhausts us all, companies here in Seattle are starting to fully embrace the inevitability of using hybrid or fully remote work environments forever. WFH is a great draw for talent and can be a cost-saver for businesses – but it can lead to a lot of cracks in your cyber security too. 

The best way to reduce the cybersecurity risk for businesses like yours is to turn to a layered cyber security approach. This will make it harder for cybercriminals to successfully attack your organization – no matter where your employees are, what devices they’re using, or what their home internet security situation looks like. 

Start layering with Interplay’s tech experts

For 20+ years, the friendly and knowledgeable IT services team at Interplay has helped business leaders across a range of industries get more out of their tech, stress free. Not only are we always (and we mean always) happy to offer the best managed IT services, support, and advice, we’re also the team you can trust for the best cocktail recommendations here in Seattle or in Disney World – we’re versatile! All humor aside though, we’d love to help you get your IT running smoothly and securely, around the clock.