What is Cyber Hygiene?

Cyber hygiene, also known as cybersecurity hygiene, is a set of practices focused on regularly maintaining the health and security of an organization’s users, devices, networks, and data. Cyber hygiene aims to keep confidential information safe and secure from potential cyber threats and attacks.

Why is Cyber Hygiene Important?

Lack of cyber hygiene puts businesses at risk of cyberattacks, which can lead to massive financial losses, stolen and lost data, and a damaged reputation.

All team members must do their best to help prevent data loss and protect digital identities. In fact, 74% of breaches involved the human element, according to Verizon’s 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report. Human negligence includes reusing passwords, falling for phishing attempts, misusing organizational resources, and more. A cybercriminal only requires a set of login credentials from one employee to cause a security breach and put the entire organization at risk.

Humans aren’t the only victims of an attack. IoT devices are vulnerable to hacking incidents and require security and monitoring. A cybersecurity management platform can give organizations the visibility needs to take control of their devices.

Cyber Hygiene Best Practices

Examples of some good cyber hygiene practices include:

• Ensure operating systems, applications, and libraries are kept up to date and patched for vulnerabilities.
• Remove end-of-life or end-of-support software from your assets.
• Ensure endpoint protection software is deployed and functioning correctly on all organizational assets.
• Ensure vulnerability assessment programs have coverage of all assets.
• Continually assess security controls for effectiveness.
• Carrying out security awareness training to educate employees and ensure they follow best practices.