Staying Vigilant During the Holidays

December 21, 2021

WHAT HAPPENED?

While you are planning for holiday parties and traveling, malicious cyber actors are making different plans. Recently, CISA and the FBI have seen that this time of year is when these actors look to disrupt critical networks and systems belonging to organizations, businesses, and critical infrastructure.

To avoid this, there are measures that everyone can take to protect against cyberattacks during this holiday season. These agencies urge all entities to examine their current cybersecurity posture and work to implement best practices including:

• Identify IT security employees for holidays and weekends who are available incase of an incident or ransomware attack
• Implement multi-factor authentication for remote access
• Mandate new, complex passwords
• Ensure remote desktops are secure and monitored
• Remind employees of phishing schemes, suspicious links, etc.

Finally, make sure to review and update incident response plans including actions to take and contacts to reach out to in the event of an attack.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ME?

Cybersecurity attacks expose the weak points of a company and put your client’s data at risk. To avoid being a victim during the holiday season, continue training your employees on the latest threats. Maintain a current cybersecurity program that is tailored to your firm’s business practices, including an incident response plan to guide the firm an incident or data breach.

Contact Fairview Cyber for support if you need help implementing any of these regulatory requirements.