Glossary

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    cyber hygiene

    Cyber Hygiene

    What is Cyber Hygiene?

    Cyber hygiene refers to the collection of best practices that an organization employs to keep its network and data secure.

    Why is cyber hygiene important?

    The goal of cyber hygiene is to maintain the health and security of hardware and software to ensure they are protected from threats such as cyber attacks. When practiced regularly and consistently, cyber hygiene helps organizations keep their data safe and secure.

    What is the first step in practicing cyber hygiene?

    The most important step in practicing cyber hygiene is to have a detailed inventory of your network systems, assets, devices, and applications. Any cloud, internal, or public-facing asset that presents a cyber attack surface needs to be documented and kept up-to-date.

    Cybersecurity hygiene checklist

    The following list of practices is a baseline for what should be considered when developing a cyber hygiene checklist.

    • Require strong passwords and multi-factor authentication for critical systems and applications
    • Keep company-owned systems and devices up-to-date with the latest software updates and patches
    • Don’t share login credentials with others
    • Install firewalls and antivirus software
    • Encrypt drives
    • Backup critical data regularly
    • Perform asset discovery and inventory management
    • Implement the principle of least privilege