The modern cybersecurity landscape is no longer about ‘if’ something goes wrong – but about how prepared your business is when it does.
Today’s tech-oriented businesses rely heavily on cloud platforms, APIs, remote culture, automation and Gen AI tools to maintain a high pace. And that same pace can be an advantage – but so does the extended possibility of attacks for cybercriminals.
Considering this, Statista expected that cybercrime costs would reach around 6.4 trillion dollars between 2024 and 2029.
Imagine cybersecurity as maintaining a high performance car. You can’t just thrive with speed and design – brakes, seatbelts and sensors also need to be maintained to avoid serious crashes. Digital systems include the same – growth without security, eventually shutting down the businesses.
This article brings out where most tech businesses expose themselves to risk and shares the 10 best cybersecurity practices that will actually help you avoid those risks.
Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT responsibility – it has turned into a core business function.
Cyberattacks rarely look dramatic. They look like normal logins, routine updates and employees just following what their CEO’s email says. Even a single security incident can shut down operations, expose customers’ data, trigger regulatory penalties and permanently damage your brand trust.
Even a small mistake by a single employee can put the brand’s reputation at risk. In fact, around 68% of the cyber breaches involve some or other kind of human mistake. (Source – HighSpeedOption)
For tech driven businesses, systems are the business. Because of any common mistake, if your app, platform or any other internal tools face a problem, revenue stops. That’s why cybersecurity decisions now belong at the leadership level – not just in the server room.
Most of the tech issues don’t appear in the dashboards or alerts. Without independent validation –such as pentesting services – they remain invisible until exploited. Here are some of the very common exposure points mentioned –
For instance, a fast growing software tools startup may onboard a new employee weekly. If their access rights are not reviewed on the regularly basis, any former contractor or some junior staff might unnecessarily get access to sensitive systems long after their role changes. This is not at all a hacking issue – it’s a more lenient routine process.
Conducting a cybersecurity performance check on your business to analyze your current situation might be helpful. What security measures are being taken? Are all the employees aware of potential security threats and the risks and do they know the ways to protect against them?
The following ten core cybersecurity practices can help reduce the system and network vulnerabilities that expose organizations to security breaches and other attacks –
Access control involves subtle processes. Sharing it is like sharing your business powers with some other colleague or employee. It answers who can access what – and why?
Strong access control ensures that:
Without these, one single compromised account can expose your entire environment.
Passwords alone are no longer enough. MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) adds as an extra layer – such as a mobile prompt or biometric check – turning the stolen credentials far less useful to the attackers. Supporting this, Microsoft has reported that MFA can prevent over 99% automated account takeover attacks.
In a tech business, atleast for admin accounts, cloud dashboards, developer tools and customer data platforms – MFA tools should be mandatory to use.
Every outdated system is an open door to vulnerabilities – making it effortless for the attackers to exploit your systems. When patches are delayed, businesses unknowingly leave systems exposed.
Include some effective practices in your routine to avoid these, such as automating patches where possible, prioritizing critical security updates and maintaining an inventory of all software and dependencies.
Network segmentation is a powerful way to limit how far an attacker can move once inside. To achieve it, instead of a single flat network, separate production, testing and internal systems. Also, isolate critical databases and restrict access between segments. Such an approach turns breaches into contained incidents instead of drastic disasters.
Backups are your last line of defence – but are of unparalleled value in case of data loss. A secure backup strategy will include offline backups, routine backup testing and clear recovery timelines.
Ransomware attacks usually target backups first. If your backups are at a single place and that too unprotected – they are not even the real backups.
Employees who are usually the reason behind most of the cyberattacks can turn into the first line of defence when trained properly. The training should cover – recognizing every suspicious email, spreading safe password practice and reporting unusual system behaviour.
This training will protect the company’s data by teaching secure practices in daily digital life.
Modern phishing attacks are targeted, convincing and often AI generated. It can be alleviated through effective phishing awareness, such as – realistic phishing tests, clear reporting channels and practicing immediate informing when something goes wrong.
Every laptop, phone and tablet paired or connected to your system is an endpoint – and a potential entry point. Practicing endpoint protection is not just about signatures but about behavioural detection, real time monitoring and rapid isolation of compromised devices.
This is majorly critical for remote and hybrid teams.
Least privilege refers to the situation where no one gets access ‘just in case’. The user should only have the minimum permissions required and access for the shortest necessary time. This reduces damage for both compromised accounts and honest mistakes.
Incident planning response determines how fast and how securely you recover. A solid plan involves – who responds first, how incidents, communications and recovery are reviewed. Here, proactive testing can be a huge advantage – regular security assessments can help uncover vulnerabilities before attackers do.
Cybersecurity for tech driven business is not about paranoia – it’s about being prepared for potential attacks. The most resilient companies don’t consider themselves unbreakable. They just predict that incidents will happen and accordingly build systems that protect from damage and help to recover quickly.
In a digital-first world, the businesses that win aren’t just the fastest innovators—they’re the ones that stay standing when things go wrong.
Usually, it should be reviewed once every quarter. But in special cases, when someone leaves or is onboard – access should be reviewed.
Yes, it trains them for the best practices and reduces the chances of human error – hence reducing the possibilities of cyberattacks.
No, even after hard tries, if the whole team is not aware of the best practices, cyberattacks cannot be avoided.
