ATS - Cybersecurity Handbook
This handbook will help you and your staff learn about cybersecurity and make it part of your business routine.
Knowing some cybersecurity basics and putting them in practice will help you protect your business and reduce the risk of a cyber attack.
Update your software
This includes your apps, web browsers, and operating systems. Set updates to happen automatically.
Secure your files
Back up important files offline, on an external hard drive, or in the cloud. Make sure you store your paper files securely, too.
Require passwords
Use passwords for all laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Don’t leave these devices unattended in public places.
Encrypt Devices
Encrypt devices and other media that contain sensitive personal information. This includes laptops, tablets, smartphones, removable drives, backup tapes, and cloud storage solutions.
Use multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Require multi-factor authentication to access areas of your network with sensitive information. This requires additional steps beyond logging in with a password, like a temporary code on a smartphone or a key that’s inserted into a computer.
Secure your router / firewall
Change the default name and password, turn off remote management, and log out as the administrator once the router is set up.
Use at least WPA2 encryption for WiFi security
Make sure your router offers WPA2 or WPA3 encryption, and that it’s turned on. Encryption protects information sent over your network so it can’t be read by outsiders.
Require strong passwords
A strong password is at least 12 characters that are a mix of numbers, symbols, uppercase and capital lowercase letters. Never reuse passwords and don’t share them on the phone, in texts, or by email. Limit the number of unsuccessful log-in attempts to limit password-guessing attacks.
Train all staff
Create a culture of security by implementing a regular schedule of employee training. Update employees as you find out about new risks and vulnerabilities. If employees don’t attend, consider blocking their access to the network.
Have a plan
Have a plan for saving data, running the business, and notifying customers if you experience a breach. The FTC’s Data Breach Response: A Guide for Business gives steps you can take. You can find it at FTC.gov/DataBreach.
Contents
- Cybersecurity Basics
- NIST Cybersecurity Framework
- FAR 52.204-21
- Physical Security
- Ransomware
- Phishing
- Business Email Imposters
- Tech Support Scams
- Vendor Security
- Cybersecurity Insurance
- Email Authentication
- Hiring a Web Host
- Secure Remote Access
NIST is the National Institute of Standards and Technology at the U.S. Department of Commerce. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework helps businesses of all sizes better understand, manage, and reduce their cybersecurity risk and protect their networks and data. You can put the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to work in your business in these five areas: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover.
1. IDENTIFY
Make a list of all equipment, software, and data you use, including laptops, smartphones, tablets, and point-of-sale devices. Create and share a company cybersecurity policy that covers:
- Roles and responsibilities for employees, vendors, and anyone else with access to sensitive data.
- Steps to take to protect against an attack and limit the damage if one occurs.
2. PROTECT
- Control who logs on to your network and uses your computers and other devices.
- Use security software to protect data.
- Encrypt sensitive data, at rest and in transit.
- Conduct regular backups of data.
- Update security software regularly, automating those updates if possible.
- Have formal policies for safely disposing of electronic files and old devices.
- Train everyone who uses your computers, devices, and network about cybersecurity. You can help employees understand their personal risk in addition to their crucial role in the workplace.
3. DETECT
- Monitor your computers for unauthorized personnel access, devices (like USB drives), and software.
- Check your network for unauthorized users or connections.
- Investigate any unusual activities on your network or by your staff.
4. RESPOND
Have a incident response plan for:
- Notifying customers, employees, and others whose data may be at risk.
- Keeping business operations up and running.
- Reporting the attack to law enforcement and other authorities.
- Investigating and containing an attack.
- Updating your cybersecurity policy and plan with lessons learned.
- Preparing for inadvertent events (like weather emergencies) that may put data at risk.
Test your incident response plan regularly!
5. RECOVER
After an attack:
- Repair and restore the equipment and parts of your network that were affected.
- Keep employees and customers informed of your response and recovery activities.
FAR clause 52.204-21 states: All civilian contractors and subcontractors with access to non-public information must comply with the 15 basic controls outlined in the clause.
FAR clause 52.204-21 is considered a best-practice even if you do not have government contracts.
15 Basic Controls
- Limit information system access to authorized users
- Limit information system access to transactions and functions that authorized users are permitted to execute
- Verify and control/limit connections to and use of external information systems.
- Control information posted or processed on publicly accessible information systems.
- Identify information system users, processes acting on behalf of users, or devices.
- Authenticate the identities of users.
- Sanitize or destroy information
- Limit physical access to authorized individuals.
- Escort visitors and monitor visitor.
- Monitor, control, and protect organizational communications.
- Implement subnetworks, separated from internal networks.
- Identify, report, and correct information in a timely manner.
- Identify, report, and correct information in a timely manner.
- Update malicious code protection mechanisms when new releases are available.
- Perform periodic scans of the information systems and real-time scans of files from external sources
Lapses in physical security can expose sensitive company data to identity theft, with potentially serious consequences.
For example:
- An employee accidentally leaves a flash drive on a coffeehouse table. When he returns hours later to get it, the drive — with hundreds of Social Security numbers saved on it — is gone.
- Another employee throws stacks of old company bank records into a trash can, where a criminal finds them after business hours.
- A burglar steals files and computers from your office after entering through an unlocked window.
Store securely
When paper files or electronic devices contain sensitive information, store them in a locked cabinet or room.
Limit physical access
When records or devices contain sensitive data, allow access only to those who need it.
Send reminders
Remind employees to put paper files in locked file cabinets, log out of your network and applications, and never leave files or devices with sensitive data unattended.
Require complex passwords
Require passwords that are long, complex, and unique. And make sure that these passwords are stored securely. Consider using a password manager.
Use multi-factor authentication
Require multi-factor authentication to access areas of your network with sensitive information. This requires additional steps beyond logging in with a password — like a temporary code on a smartphone or a key that’s inserted into a computer.
Limit login attempts
Limit the number of incorrect login attempts allowed to unlock devices. This will help protect against intruders.
Encrypt
Encrypt portable media, including laptops and thumb drives, that contain sensitive information. Encrypt any sensitive data you send outside of the company, like to an accountant or a shipping service.
Train your employees
Include physical security in your regular employee trainings and communications. Remind employees to:
- Shred documents - Always shred documents with sensitive information before throwing them away.
- Erase data correctly - Use software to erase data before donating or discarding old computers, mobile devices, digital copiers, and drives. Don’t rely on “delete” alone. That does not actually remove the file from the computer.
- Promote security practices in all locations - Maintain security practices even if working remotely from home or on business travel.
- Know the incident response plan - All staff should know what to do if equipment or paper files are lost or stolen, including whom to notify and what to do next. Use Data Breach Response: A Guide for Business for help creating a response plan. You can find it at FTC.gov/DataBreach.
It looks legitimate, but with one click on a link, or one download of an attachment, everyone is locked out of your network. That link downloaded software that holds your data hostage. That’s a ransomware attack.
What happens next?
The attackers ask for money or cryptocurrency, but even if you pay, you don’t know if the cybercriminals will keep your data or destroy your files. Meanwhile, the information you need to run your business and sensitive details about your customers, employees, and company are now in criminal hands. Ransomware can take a serious toll on your business.
How it happens?
Criminals can start a ransomware attack in a variety of ways.
Scam emails
Emails with links and attachments that put your data and network at risk. These phishing emails make up most ransomware attacks.
Server vulnerabilities
These vulnerabilities can be exploited by hackers.
Infected websites
Websites that automatically download malicious software onto your computer.
Online ads
Advertisments that contain malicious code, even on websites you know and trust.
How to protect your business
Have a plan
How would your business stay up and running after a ransomware attack? Put this plan in writing and share it with everyone who needs to know.
Back up your data
Regularly save important files to a drive or server that’s not connected to your network. Make data backup part of your routine business operations.
Keep your security up to date
Always install the latest patches and updates. Look for additional means of protection, like email authentication, and intrusion prevention software, and set them to update automatically on your computer. On mobile devices, you may have to do it manually.
Alert your staff
Teach them how to avoid phishing scams and show them some of the common ways computers and devices become infected. Include tips for spotting and protecting against ransomware in your regular orientation and training.
What to do if you're attacked
Limit the damage
Immediately disconnect the infected computers or devices from your network. If your data has been stolen, take steps to protect your company and notify those who might be affected.
Keep your business running
Now’s the time to implement that plan. Having data backed up will help.
Contact the authorities
Report the attack right away to your local FBI office.
Notify customers
If your data or personal information was compromised, make sure you notify the affected parties — they could be at risk of identity theft. Find information on how to do that at Data Breach Response: A Guide for Business. You can find it at FTC.gov/DataBreach.
Should I pay the ransom?
Law enforcement doesn’t recommend that, but it’s up to you to determine whether the risks and costs of paying are worth the possibility of getting your files back. However, paying the ransom may not guarantee you get your data back.
It seems to be from one of your company’s vendors and asks that you click on a link to update your business account. Should you click? Maybe it looks like it’s from your boss and asks for your network password. Should you reply? In either case, probably not. These may be phishing attempts.
How Phishing Works
You get an email or text
It seems to be from someone you know, and it asks you to click a link, or give your password, business bank account, or other sensitive information.
It looks real
It’s easy to spoof logos and make up fake email addresses. Scammers use familiar company names or pretend to be someone you know.
It’s urgent
The message pressures you to act now, or something bad will happen.
What happens next
If you click on a link, scammers can install ransomware or other programs that can lock you out of your data and spread to the entire company network. If you share passwords, scammers now have access to all those accounts.
Before you click
Check it out
Look up the website or phone number for the company or person behind the text or email. Make sure that you’re getting the real company and not about to download malware or talk to a scammer.
Talk to someone
Talking to a colleague might help you figure out if the request is real or a phishing attempt.
Make a call if you’re not sure
Pick up the phone and call that vendor, colleague, or client who sent the email. Confirm that they really need information from you. Use a number you know to be correct, not the number in the email or text.
What if you fall for a Phishing Scheme?
Alert others
Talk to your colleagues and share your experience. Phishing attacks often happen to more than one person in a company.
Limit the damage
Immediately change any compromised passwords and disconnect from the network any computer or device that’s infected with malware.
Follow your company’s procedures
These may include notifying specific people in your organization or contractors that help you with IT.
Notify customers
If your data or personal information was compromised, make sure you notify the affected parties — they could be at risk of identity theft.
Report it
Forward phishing emails to spam@uce.gov (an address used by the FTC) and to reportphishing@apwg.org (an address used by the Anti-Phishing Working Group, which includes ISPs, security vendors, financial institutions, and law enforcement agencies). Let the company or person that was impersonated know about the phishing scheme. And report it to the FTC at FTC.gov/Complaint.
Then the scammer sends out messages using that email address. This practice is called spoofing, and the scammer is what we call a business email imposter.
Scammers do this to get passwords and bank account numbers or to get someone to send them money. When this happens, your company has a lot to lose. Customers and partners might lose trust and take their business elsewhere, and your business could then lose money.
How to protect your business
Use email authentication
When you set up your up to date business’s email, make sure the email provider offers email authentication technology. That way, when you send an email from your company’s server, the receiving servers can confirm that the email is really from you. If it’s not, the receiving servers may block the email and foil a business email imposter.
Keep your security up to date
Always install the latest patches and updates. Set them to update automatically on your network. Look for additional means of protection, like intrusion prevention software, which checks your network for suspicious activity and sends you alerts if it finds any.
Train your staff
Teach them how to avoid phishing scams and show them some of the common ways attackers can infect computers and devices with malware. Include tips for spotting and protecting against cyber threats in your regular employee trainings and communications.
What to do if someone spoofs your email
Report it
Report the scam to local law enforcement, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov, and the FTC at FTC.gov/Complaint. You can also forward phishing emails to spam@uce.gov (an address used by the FTC) and to reportphishing@apwg.org (an address used by the Anti-Phishing Working Group, which includes ISPs, security vendors, financial institutions, and law enforcement agencies).
Notify your customers
If you find out scammers are impersonating your business, tell your customers as soon as possible by mail, email, or social media. If you email your customers, send an email without hyperlinks. You don’t want your notification email to look like a phishing scam. Remind customers not to share any personal information through email or text. If your customers’ data was stolen, direct them to IdentityTheft.gov to get a recovery plan.
Alert your staff
Use this experience to update your security practices and train your staff about cyber threats.
Often, scammers are behind these calls, pop-up messages, and emails. They want to get your money, personal information, or access to your files. This can harm your network, put your data at risk, and damage your business.
How the scam works
The scammers may pretend to be from a well-known tech company, such as Microsoft. They use lots of technical terms to convince you that the problems with your computer are real. They may ask you to open some files or run a scan on your computer — and then tell you those files or the scan results show a problem…but there isn’t one.
The scammers may then:
Ask you to give them remote access to your computer, which lets them access all information stored on it, and on any network connected to it.
Install malware that gives them access to your computer and sensitive data, like user names and passwords.
Try to sell you software or repair services that are worthless or available elsewhere for free
Try to enroll you in a worthless computer maintenance or warranty program
Ask for credit card information so they can bill you for phony services or services available elsewhere for free
Direct you to websites and ask you to enter credit card, bank account, and other personal information
How to protect your business
If a caller says your computer has a problem, hang up. A tech support call you don’t expect is a scam, even if the number is local or looks legitimate. These scammers use fake caller ID information to look like local businesses or trusted companies.
If you get a pop-up message to call tech support, ignore it. Some pop-up messages about computer issues are legitimate, but do not call a number or click on a link that appears in a pop-up message warning you of a computer problem.
If you’re worried about a virus or other threat, call your security software company directly, using the phone number on its website, the sales receipt, or the product packaging. Or consult a trusted security professional.
Never give someone your password, and don’t give remote access to your computer to someone who contacts you unexpectedly.
What to do if you're scammed
If you shared your password with a scammer, change it on every account that uses this password. Remember to use unique passwords for each account and service. Consider using a password manager.
Get rid of malware. Update or download legitimate security software. Scan your computer, and delete anything the software says is a problem. If you need help, consult a trusted security professional.
If the affected computer is connected to your network, you or a security professional should check the entire network for intrusions.
If you bought bogus services, ask your credit card company to reverse the charges, and check your statement for any charges you didn’t approve. Keep checking your credit card statements to make sure the scammer doesn’t try to re-charge you every month.
Report the attack right away to the FTC at FTC.gov/Complaint
Make sure those vendors are securing their own computers and networks. For example, what if your accountant, who has all your financial data, loses his laptop? Or a vendor whose network is connected to yours gets hacked? The result: your business data and your customers’ personal information may end up in the wrong hands, putting your business and your customers at risk.
How to monitor you vendors
Put it in writing
Include provisions for security in your vendor contracts, like a plan to evaluate and update security controls, since threats change. Make the security provisions that are critical to your company non-negotiable.
Verify compliance
Establish processes so you can confirm that vendors follow your rules. Don’t just take their word for it.
Make changes as needed
Cybersecurity threats change rapidly. Make sure your vendors keep their security up to date.
How to protect your business
Control access
Put controls on databases with sensitive information. Limit access to a need-to-know basis, and only for the amount of time a vendor needs to do a job.
Use multi-factor authentication
This makes vendors take additional steps beyond logging in with a password to access your network, like a temporary code on a smartphone or a key that’s inserted into a computer.
Secure your network
Require strong passwords: at least 12 characters with a mix of numbers, symbols, and both capital and lowercase letters. Never reuse passwords, don’t share them, and limit the number of unsuccessful log-in attempts to limit password-guessing attacks.
Safeguard your data
Use properly configured, strong encryption. This protects sensitive information as it’s transferred and stored.
What to do if your vendor has a data breach
Contact the authorities
Report the attack right away to your local police department. If they’re not familiar with investigating information compromises, contact your local FBI office.
Confirm the vendor has a fix
Make sure that the vendor fixes the vulnerabilities and ensures that your information will be safe going forward, if your business decides to continue using the vendor.
Notify customers
If your data or personal information was compromised, make sure you notify the affected parties — they could be at risk of identity theft. Find information on how to do that at Data Breach Response: A Guide for Business. Find it at FTC.gov/DataBreach.
Cyber insurance is one option that can help protect your business against losses resulting from a cyber attack. If you’re thinking about cyber insurance, discuss with your insurance agent what policy would best fit your company’s needs, including whether you should go with first-party coverage, third-party coverage, or both. Here are some general tips to consider.
What should your cybersecurity insurance policy cover?
Make sure your policy includes coverage for:
Also, consider whether your cybersecurity insurance provider will:
What is first-party coverage and what should you look for?
First-party cybersecurity coverage protects your data, including employee and customer information. This coverage typically includes your business’s costs related to:
What is third-party coverage and what should you look for?
Third-party cyber coverage generally protects you from liability if a third party brings claims against you. This coverage typically includes:
Make sure you understand what is covered
Like any insurance policy, it’s important to read the fine print to make sure you understand exactly what is covered.
- Many cybersecurity insurance policies consider a state-sponsored cyberattack to be an act of war and refuse to pay claims for these attacks.
- Many insurance companies offer cybersecurity insurance as part of generalized business insurance. Chances are that this add-on coverage will not offer you the protection you need if a breach occurs.
- You will be better off purchasing a stand-alone cyber risk insurance policy rather than relying on add-ons to your existing business policies.
- Keep an eye out for loopholes that will allow them to wiggle out of paying a claim.
- You will be better off purchasing a stand-alone cyber risk insurance policy rather than relying on add-ons to your existing business policies.
- Keep an eye out for loopholes that will allow them to wiggle out of paying a claim.
More insurance resources for businesses available at: content.naic.org/research
Using email authentication technology makes it a lot harder for scammers to send phishing emails. This technology allows a receiving server to verify an email from your company and block emails from an imposter, or send them to a quarantine folder and then notify you about them.
What to know
Some web host providers let you set up your company’s business email using your domain name (which you may think of as your website name). Your domain name might look like this: yourbusiness.com. And your email may look like this: name@yourbusiness.com. Without email authentication, scammers can use that domain name to send emails that look like they’re from your business. If your business email uses your company’s domain name, make sure that your email provider has these three email authentication tools:
Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
SPF tells other servers which servers are allowed to send emails using your business’s domain name. So when you send an email from name@yourbusiness. com, the receiving server can confirm that the sending server is on an approved list. If it is, the receiving server lets the email through. If it can’t find a match, the email can be flagged as suspicious.
Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM)
DKIM puts a digital signature on outgoing mail so servers can verify that an email from your domain actually was sent from your organization’s servers and hasn’t been tampered with in transit.
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC)
DMARC is the essential third tool for email authentication. SPF and DKIM verify the address the server uses “behind the scenes.” DMARC verifies that this address matches the “from” address you see. It also lets you tell other servers what to do when they get an email that looks like it came from your domain, but the receiving server has reason to be suspicious (based on SPF or DKIM). You can have other servers reject the email, flag it as spam, or take no action. You also can set up DMARC so that you’re notified when this happens.
It takes some expertise to configure these tools so that they work as intended and don’t block legitimate email. Make sure that your email hosting provider can set them up if you don’t have the technical knowledge. If they can’t, or don’t include that in their service agreement, consider getting another provider.
What to do if you're email address is spoofed
Email authentication helps keep your business’s email from being used in phishing schemes because it notifies you if someone spoofs your company’s email. If you get that notification, take these actions:
Report it
Report the scam to local law enforcement, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov, and the FTC at FTC.gov/Complaint. You also can forward phishing emails to spam@uce.gov (an address used by the FTC) and to reportphishing@apwg.org (an address used by the Anti-Phishing Working Group, which includes ISPs, security vendors, financial institutions, and law enforcement agencies).
Notify your customers
If you find out scammers are impersonating your business, tell your customers as soon as possible, by mail, email, or social media. If you email your customers, send an email without hyperlinks: you don’t want your notification email to look like a phishing scam. Remind customers not to share any personal information through email or text. And if your customers’ data was stolen, direct them to IdentityTheft.gov to get a recovery plan.
Alert your staff
Use this experience to update your security practices and train your staff about cyber threats.
But if you don’t have the skills to set up the web presence you want, you may want to hire a web host provider to do it for you. Whether you’re upgrading a website or launching a new business, there are many web-hosting options. When comparing services, security should be a top concern.
What to look for
Transport Layer Security (TLS)
The service you choose should include TLS, which will help to protect your customers’ privacy. (You may have heard of its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL.) TLS helps make sure that your customers get to your real website when they type your URL into the address bar. When TLS is correctly implemented on your website, your URL will begin with https://.
TLS also helps make sure the information sent to your website is encrypted. That’s especially important if you ask customers for sensitive information, like credit card numbers or passwords.
Email authentication
Some web host providers let you set up your company’s business email using your domain name (that’s part of your URL, and what you may think of as your website name). Your domain name might look like this: yourbusiness.com. And your email may look like this: name@yourbusiness.com. If you don’t have email authentication, scammers can impersonate that domain name and send emails that look like they’re from your business.
When your business email is set up using your company’s domain name, make sure that your web host can give you these three email authentication tools:
Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM)
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC)
Software updates
Many web host providers offer pre-built websites or software packages designed to make it quick and easy to set up your company’s website. As with any software, it is essential that you use the latest versions with up-to-date security patches. Make sure you know how to keep the website’s software up to date, or whether the web host provider will do this for you.
Website management
If a web host provider is managing your website, you may have to go through that provider to make any changes — though you may be able to log in and make some changes yourself. Some web host providers may instead offer you the option of managing the website on your own. It’s important to clarify from the beginning who will manage the website after it’s built.
What to ask
When you’re hiring a web host provider, ask these questions to make sure you’re helping protect your customer information and your business data.
Put your network’s security first. Make employees and vendors follow strong security standards before they connect to your network. Give them the tools to make security part of their work routine.
How to protect devices
Whether employees or vendors use company-issued devices or their own when connecting remotely to your network, those devices should be secure. Follow these tips, and make sure your employees and vendors do as well:
- Always change any pre-set router passwords and the default name of your router. And keep the router’s software up to date; you may have to visit the router’s website often to do so.
- Consider enabling full-disk encryption for laptops and other mobile devices that connect remotely to your network. Check your operating system for this option, which will protect any data stored on the device if it’s lost or stolen. This is especially important if the device stores any sensitive personal information.
- Change smartphone settings to stop automatic connections to public Wi-Fi.
- Keep up-to-date antivirus software on devices that connect to your network, including mobile devices.
How to connect remotely to the network
Require employees and vendors to use secure connections when connecting remotely to your network. They should:
- Use a router with WPA2 or WPA3 encryption when connecting from their homes. Encryption protects information sent over a network so that outsiders can’t read it. WPA2 and WPA3 are the only encryption standards that will protect information sent over a wireless network.
- Only use public Wi-Fi when also using a virtual private network (VPN) to encrypt traffic between their computers and the internet. Public Wi-Fi does not provide a secure internet connection on its own. Your employees can get a personal VPN account from a VPN service provider, or you may want to hire a vendor to create an enterprise VPN for all employees to use.
What to do to maintain security
Train your staff:
- Include information on secure remote access in regular trainings and new staff orientations.
- Have policies covering basic cybersecurity, give copies to your employees, and explain the importance of following them.
- Before letting any device, whether at an employee’s home or on a vendor’s network, connect to your network, and make sure it meets your network’s security requirements.
- Tell your staff about the risks of public Wi-Fi.
Give your staff tools that will help maintain security:
- Require employees to use unique, complex network passwords and avoid unattended, open workstations.
- Consider creating a VPN for employees to use when connecting remotely to the business network.
- Require multi-factor authentication to access areas of your network that have sensitive information. This requires additional steps beyond logging in with a password, like a temporary code on a smartphone or a key that’s inserted into a computer.
- If you offer Wi-Fi on your business premises for guests and customers, make sure it’s separate from and not connected to your business network.
- Include provisions for security in your vendor contracts, especially if the vendor will be connecting remotely to your network.