Evolving Tech: Implementing Effective Cybersecurity Policies​

Technology is quickly evolving, introducing powerful tools like artificial intelligence (AI)  and cloud computing. But what does this mean for businesses? They must realign themselves with emerging technologies as they massively impact business operations. As they do that, they also need to be prepared to deal with increased and new security risks that come with them.

Just like tech, cyber crimes are becoming sophisticated, making data breaches increasingly rampant. For businesses, staying ahead of the curve by reinforcing cyber security to protect sensitive information is essential. So, developing and implementing effective cybersecurity policies is a must to avoid financial losses and reputation damage.

Here’s the challenge: you need a solid understanding of the cybersecurity landscape to build a robust defense. To help you with that, here’s how to implement effective cybersecurity policies in today's fast-evolving tech world.

Do Cybersecurity Policies Help Safeguard Businesses?

Companies increasingly depend on technology to run everyday operations today. However, that also means dealing with constant cyber threats. One of the common ways hackers access an organization's systems is through phishing attacks targeting employees. As businesses switch partially or fully to a remote working model heavily relying on cloud computing, the threats become even more imminent. As such, they must routinely train employees and install strong security systems to withstand the attacks.

Cybersecurity policies are simply security guidelines that organizations put in place to prevent and manage security risks and comply with regulations. They define who is allowed to access what systems, data integrity maintenance, and more. Employees must follow these practices to prevent possible attacks.

Fortunately, instead of crafting your policies, you can take advantage of the cybersecurity policy templates created by industry leaders to improve data privacy, compliance, and cybersecurity.

How to Design and Implement Effective Cybersecurity Policies

1. Develop a Comprehensive Cybersecurity Strategy

Crafting functional cybersecurity policies takes a well-thought-out plan that aligns with the organization's objectives. These policies should enhance data security by developing adaptable security measures that resolve current and merging cyber threats. As such, they should be robust and flexible.

It starts with clearly understanding the organization's security needs because they differ from one organization to another. Perform a thorough risk assessment to establish vulnerable areas and possible threats. Focus on weak areas in your security measures by providing adequate personnel and tools to deal with the issues. Then, develop policies that enhance integrity and confidentiality and define each employee's role in maintaining a safe environment.

Standard policies that apply across organizations include password requirements, acceptable use, remote access, access control, breach response, data management, and disaster recovery.

The IT team only partially develops them to ensure their effectiveness. A cross-disciplinary team of IT personnel, management, and legal professionals helps ensure they are enforceable, robust, aligned with the company's goals, and compliant with the regulations.

2. Continuously Train Employees to Create Awareness

Employees interact with various devices and company and customer information daily. Effective policies guide employees in using the company's devices and resources without risking cyber attacks. They define procedures and a step-by-step response in case of cyber attacks. So, it's essential to ensure the policies are written in easy-to-understand language, even for employees with little technical knowledge.

Trained employees can enforce cybersecurity policies diligently and are better prepared to deal with possible cyber threats like malware or phishing. You...

7 Common Challenges Faced By Truck Drivers

The United States Census Bureau reports America has about 3.5 million truck drivers and estimates they may increase in the coming years. With more drivers interested in trucking as a full-time job, an overview of the industry’s challenges can help determine if truck driving suits you.

Some common issues truckers face daily include deplorable working conditions, health challenges, and loneliness from extended periods away from home. This post explains more about the unique problems truck drivers encounter on the road and potential solutions to their challenges.

1. Tough Trucking Regulations

Truck drivers must obey the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association (FMCSA) rules and regulations. The current trucking laws state that drivers should spend 60 hours driving in seven consecutive days.

The rules also state drivers should take a 34-hour minimum break to get enough rest before driving again after a 60-hour shift. While these regulations are essential for keeping truck drivers safe and healthy, some say they hinder them from making more deliveries. Trucking rules also change often and can be challenging to monitor while driving in remote areas.

Regularly checking the truck driver news provides fresh insight into new trucking industry regulations. News updates also inform you of all crucial road matters, including traffic and the weather.

2. Harsh Working Conditions

Truckers have huge job targets that put them under intense pressure. High-pressure working environments can cause drivers to develop severe health and mental issues. Driving long hours to make timely deliveries without breaks also increases the chance of having an accident.

Additionally, most truck drivers get injuries while loading and unloading cargo from their vehicles. The work demands of truck driving can be physically and mentally taxing. As a result, many drivers leave their jobs to improve their working conditions.

3. Extended Periods Away from Home

Truck drivers are the backbone of the country’s domestic shipments. As such, they work round the clock to ensure cargo arrives at the appointed destination in good time. Their busy schedule keeps them away from home for extended periods.

On average, truckers spend about two to three weeks away from home, depending on the distance and cargo size. Extended time away from home and loved ones can cause loneliness, mental health issues, and strained relationships.

A favorable delivery schedule will increase the time spent with friends and family at home. Shorter routes take less time away from home, whereas longer destinations isolate you on the road for days.

4. Inadequate Parking

Parking space is a significant problem for drivers in America. Truck drivers have access to limited parking space in many areas. Most spend hours searching for adequate parking spaces before breaking for the night. Others park on the roadside to avoid wasting gas and time looking for suitable parking spaces.

Searching for parking areas with the help of a dispatcher before arriving at your designated place can prevent you from driving around aimlessly. You can also save time by checking the available truck parking spaces on a parking app.

5. Health Challenges

Truck drivers sit for long hours daily. According to Yale Medicine, prolonged sitting can trigger health conditions such as diabetes, heart issues, back pain, weight gain, and other dangerous lifestyle conditions.

Most truck drivers also have irregular feeding and lifestyle habits that can endanger their well-being. Some never exercise and consume lots of caffeine on the road, while others get little to no rest after their shifts.

A comfortable sitting cushion in your truck can help prevent backaches when sitting for prolonged periods. Besides, exercising a few minutes and resting well can boost your physical and mental health.

6. Truck Maintenance Issues

Truck drivers should always confirm their vehicles are...

Mastering Certificate Management: Top Practices and Strategies

One of the ultimate ways to protect your business from data threats is to rely on certificates. Through activities like renewals, revocation and authentication, certificates can help you create the ultimate security wall to secure your business strategic assets.

Additionally, certificate management is ideal for threat detection and prevention. It also helps in securing communication, networks, and IP resources. However, you must enforce the best certificate management practices to enjoy the security benefits. These practices ensure the certificates, authentication and key authorizations are not compromised.

Without these practices, the company's key resources are vulnerable to internal and external threats. As part of certificate life cycle management, your IT team should enforce and update these practices to keep up with the dynamic threats.  

Keep reading to understand some of the best practices and strategies that you should apply. 

1. Work with Experts 

Regardless of size, every organization needs experts to help with all the certificate management activities. You can integrate the team into your organization's IT team or allow them to operate independently. 

Hiring such staff can be costly, and if you choose to task the IT team with such roles, you need frequent training to enable them to handle all the roles.

Eventually, you are likely to incur more costs. Without the help of experts, it is difficult to solve major errors and issues. Certificate management involves various activities and roles; hence, you should outsource the services to an experienced team. Outsourcing such critical roles gives the in-house team space to focus on their key roles. 

With the help of experts, you are unlikely to compromise on security or forget key activities like certificate renewal and revocation. You also have the help of experts who can help you spot security threats quickly. With expert help, you can monitor all CA activities and safeguard keys from threats, especially external attacks.

2. Automating All The Key Functions

Outsourcing certificate management to third parties is costly. Such arrangements allow other unintended parties to see your private data and functions. If you entrust the in-house IT team with the certificate management roles, you will likely overwhelm them with more roles.

A typical organization has multiple certificates that would require a team to manage. Many roles are redundant for an employee to perform. Such limitations are likely to expose your organization to risks. Alternatively, the employees may not do the best job due to redundancy.

Automating key activities like certificate monitoring, renewal, and revocation is best to avoid all these challenges. You can outsource various cloud-based software to help you manage permission requests and all other certificate activities. 

With such software, you avoid unnecessary costs and mistakes that leave the company vulnerable to attack. Automated management will ensure you renew the certificate in time and revoke the certificates and permission quickly, preventing any security vulnerabilities. 

Other roles of automation include certificate issuance and access authorization. An automated system also records every activity, allowing you to monitor it. 

3. Enforce The Best Storage Strategies

Effective storage is crucial in managing company certificates; hence, you must invest in ideal storage. Due to security concerns, you should avoid on-premise storage unless considering hybrid management strategies. 

It is best to have a cloud storage system, which makes it easier to manage the certificates remotely. Cloud storage is also perfect for automating major cloud management activities. 

Centralize cloud storage to avoid major risks and unauthorized use and access. This makes managing all the certificates and related automation easier from one platform. 

On-premise storage...