Cybersecurity Spring Cleaning: Time to Tidy Up Your Defenses

Spring is a time for renewal. It’s a chance to declutter and refresh. This concept applies to your cybersecurity posture too. Think of it as “Cybersecurity Spring Cleaning.” Where should you focus your efforts? Here are four practical areas to get you started, even if you don’t have formal IT governance procedures.

Is Your Incident Response Plan Ready for Action?

Imagine this: a ransomware attack hits your network. Panic sets in. Would your team know what to do? Your Incident Response Plan (IRP) is your playbook for these moments. But a plan on paper is just the start.

This spring, let’s test it with a simple tabletop exercise. Gather your team and key stakeholders and present a realistic scenario—like a phishing email that takes down your primary file server.

The crucial question: Can you even find your IRP when you need it? Make sure it’s stored somewhere safe and accessible!

During the exercise, ask these vital questions:

• Who declares an incident?
• Can team members isolate an affected system?
• Do you have quick access to contact info for vendors, legal, and law enforcement?
• When do you call your cyber insurance provider?

This exercise will reveal any weaknesses in your plan—and that’s a good thing! It’s better to find them now than during a real crisis. Update your IRP based on your findings. Regular testing means your team is ready, minimizing downtime and damage.

Who’s Got the Keys to the Kingdom? Review User Access.

When was the last time you reviewed who has access to what within your systems? Over time, people change roles. Some leave the company. Users can accumulate unnecessary permissions. This creates risk.

Look for these red flags:

• Former employees still have active accounts. Disable these immediately.
• Shared accounts. Limit these. Know who is using them and when.
• Users with excessive permissions. Reduce permissions to the minimum required.
• Contractors with expired contracts but continued access.

Remember the principle of least privilege: give users only the access they need. Does your marketing team really need access to financial records? Probably not.

Aim for at least bi-annual (or even quarterly) user access reviews. User credentials are gold to attackers, so stay vigilant!

Tidy Up Your Firewall Rules: Your First Line of Defense.

Your firewall is your digital gatekeeper. But over time, rules become outdated, leaving security holes. It’s time for a firewall spring cleaning!

Review your rules and axe anything unnecessary. Ask yourself:

• Is this rule still needed?
• Is it specific enough? (Avoid broad rules.)
• Why does this rule exist? What does it support?

You might find rules allowing broad access for testing that are still active in production. Or rules for services no longer in use. Remove or refine these rules. Simplify your rule set to only allow essential traffic.

Can You Actually Restore Your Backups???

You back up your data, right? Great. But when did you last test restoring from those backups? Backups are useless if you can’t restore them quickly and reliably.

Do not just assume your backups are working. Verify it. Select one or more critical servers. Go through the full process. Boot the server. Verify that the operating system, applications, and data are intact. Can users access the restored system and use it as expected?

Time how long the restore takes. Is it within your acceptable downtime window? Identify any issues during the restore. Are there missing files? Corrupted data? Gaps in your backup coverage?

Real-World Example: One company found that restoring their offsite backups on-site took 12 hours—too long! They switched to cloud restoration and reduced the time to three hours.

Testing saves the day!

Start Your Cybersecurity Spring Cleaning Today!

Cybersecurity Spring Cleaning doesn’t have to be complicated. These four steps provide practical ways to improve your security posture. By acting in these key areas, you will be well on your way to a more secure and confident future. Start small. Pick one area. Your business will be more secure, and you’ll have greater peace of mind. Let’s make this spring a secure one!