10 Cybersecurity Protocols Every Tech Professional Should Follow

1. Employing Password Management And Two-Factor Authentication

First, you should use a password manager, like 1Password, that will let you set strong and unique passwords across different personal and corporate accounts, fromboth mobile and desktops/laptops. Second, you should turn on multi-factor or two-factor authentication for all your accounts that support it, starting with your mail. - Gaurav Banga, Balbix

2. Encouraging Email Vigilance

Password policies, multi-factor authentication, encryption, patching and restricting public Wi-Fi usage are all valid measures that should be implemented. However, the weakest links are always behavioral. Keep email users trained to look for suspicious requests, attachments, links and forged sender identities. Remember that tricking people does not require highly technical hacking skills. - Steve Pao, Hillwork, LLC

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3. Raising Awareness Of Phishing

Every employee needs to be aware of what they’re clicking. All shouldknow how to check the sender of an email and to look at any URL or attachment before clicking, and they should notify IT/Security when they find something suspicious. People love to click, but they need to look before they leap. - Alan Ross, Cybraics

4. Utilizing Password Generation Services

Plenty of websites offer strong password generation for free, which might be tedious to remember or store, but is necessary. The company’s name as password entry to a computer is not enough when your clients put their trust in you. Most documents can be password protected as well, adding an extra step for would-be hackers to cause a security breach. - Arnie Gordon, Arlyn Scales

5. Making Better Decisions

We’re focused more on human nature than software patches. The biggest cybersecurity holes are created by employees and human beings rather than systems and encryption. Weeducate employees on social engineering and tactics used to exploit their human nature. By focusing attention on decision making, we find people are less likely to rely on computers to protect them from foolish human errors.They think. - Tom Roberto, Core Technology Solutions

6. Avoiding Personal Devices For Work

It’s good to avoid work access through devicesfor personal use. For greater password control and access, there should be a set of devices that are only used for work. - Jon Bradshaw,Calendar, Inc.

7. Using A VPN

Whenever our employees access our systems from outsideour facility, they must do so through a virtual private network, or VPN. AVPN encrypts everything that passes through, improving cybersecurity. This administrative protocol is in place for our staff, and this policy ensures that all employees access via an encrypted channel. - Marty Puranik, Atlantic.Net, Inc.

8. Protecting Test Data

We keep close track of access to our production data, with encryption at rest and in motion. However, we often build test systems using copies of our production database without such protections. In the past, developers had been lax in securing these local test copies. As such, it was necessary to put policies and procedures in place to protect all company data, whether in production or in test. - Chris Kirby, Retired

9. Building A Strong Firewall

One topmost cybersecurity protocol is to install a firewall to defend from any cyber attack. This firewall should be able to identify and control applications on any port, control circumvention, scan for viruses, generate real-time alerts, and control traffic to and from applications.  - Naresh Soni, Tsunami XR, Inc.

10. Implementing Safe Reporting

As we learn from any high-risk industry, you first have to establish a culture in which employees feel safe reporting potential vulnerabilities and near misses. Policy and documented procedures will not protect you against deliberate sabotage or vulnerabilities that employees don’t feel safe reporting. So, the “protocol” is a culture of trust and transparency. Make employees feel heard. - Doug Claffey, Energage