Get Better at Cybersecurity By Thinking Like a Writer

By
IntelligentHQ

As more of our daily activities are taking place online, there can be hidden dangers to our online presence. It doesn’t matter if your online activity is business, educational, or social. Knowing how to protect your personal information is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your personal information. 

It really doesn’t matter if your activities are business or educational. Learning of the dangers associated with sharing your details online is critical. 

I like to analyze data and details, and in discussing the dangers of online data, I will put it in simple terms. 

Think about your online exposure, like analyzing ways to be a more efficient writer. 

To become a more efficient writer, your first step is to analyze your essay’s central point and work backward from there. 

  1. Try to brainstorm topics that are both similar and dissimilar to your central subject. Is there a way to bring seemingly disconnected concepts together to strengthen your main thought? What is it about the topic that has such importance, and should you go another direction? 
  2. Next, outline your essay. Spend some time developing 3-4 minor points that you may want to address in your writing without getting into the weeds about details. An outline should be a roadmap, but like most road trips, the memories come from getting lost and the experiences of discovering.

    Don’t stress over not having too detailed an outline. The point is to have a few markers that will help guide you through the discovery that occurs in the first writing. 
  3. As with any project, as soon as you have concepts, you need to put your energies into researching the topic more thoroughly. You need to have some grasp of the basics at a minimum, and doing in-depth research is wise. 

First drafts are there to make mistakes, to explore your main topic and subtopics more effectively. It’s in the editing mode that we sharpen our thoughts and writing. There’s a common misattribution that Ernest Hemmingway once said, “write drunk, edit sober.” 

But the truth is that was never the case. 

Cybersecurity

Outline Your Security Risks

So how does this writing process benefit your online security? The first is to diagnose the areas you may be most vulnerable. 

The most obvious first step is to make sure the devices you’re using to get online and access the Internet have security programs in place. A good software program should offer a few general benefits to its use:  

  • Protect personal information and sensitive proprietary data
  • Create trust with your customers that you can protect their data
  • Mitigates outside risks associated with online activities, purchases while active and passive online. 

As you begin to implement security best practices, having a dedicated IT team is a good suggestion. If you don’t have the budget for in-house IT support, there are plenty of opportunities to outsource your needs. 

One of the best strategies you should take is to install some security awareness training for everyone within your organization. 

Other Best Practices For Online Security

As your team becomes more aware of the risks associated with their online activity and learns best practices, you’re building a foundation of online security, but the work is not done. 

  • Other strategies for better online security include:
    Unique Passwords For Every Login: Set up a procedure that for every login, there must be a unique password to access the Internet. 
  • Two-Factor Authorization: While a minor inconvenience, two-factor authorization will double the amount of login protection you have for your team. 
  • Virtual Private Network (VPN): A VPN can increase your privacy, more secure internet access, and create an added layer of protection when accessing several public sites. 
  • Eliminate Save Passwords Features: Taking the convenience of saved password functions will require your team to utilize safe, unique passwords every time. 
  • Require Passwords To Be Updated Regularly: Passwords should be changed on average every three months or more frequently. 

The goal is to keep your business safe, your proprietary information secure, and keep your customer pool’s confidence. 

Analyzing where your security may be lax and help educate your team members of what are some best practices to pursue is the first step. And much like becoming a more efficient writer, think about the big picture, create a few metrics that need to be met, and in the process of fleshing out the outline, you’ll have the opportunity to discover other areas of potential liability to your organization. 

Of course, much like a writer who needs to get an editor, you should also get a diagnostic from cybersecurity professionals to take a detailed look at your operations for the utmost security.

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