Cyber hygiene: All you need to know 

Cyber hygiene is the practice of keeping your organisation's computers and devices in good working order and adequately protected against the threats of malware, hacking and viruses. It's a form of risk mitigation, and having a cyber hygiene routine in place is as essential to the health of your IT system as brushing your teeth with toothpaste twice daily is for your dental health. 

You can keep your system as healthy as possible by following these steps: 

Put a cyber security framework in place 

Adhere to a cyber security framework which is a coherent plan to keep all your data and systems secure. It should have clear instructions and address your organisation's overall aims and objectives concerning cyber security. 

Have a strong password policy 

Passwords need to be complex and regularly changed as an important part of cyber security. 

Control the number of users 

Limit the number of users that have administrator accessibility to your organisation's system. The majority of users should only have restricted capabilities. 

Have an incident response plan 

Establish an incident response plan to limit damage, reassure stakeholders and reduce recovery time and costs in the event of a cyber attack or information breach. 

Control data storage 

All data should be backed up to a secondary source – ideally to a cloud server or a hard drive – as a matter of course. This will ensure that nothing is lost in the event of a security breach or system malfunction. 

New Installations 

Any new installations should be properly performed, documented and added to an inventory of existing software and hardware. In fact, organisation is an integral part of cyber hygiene. It's good practice to create a database of all programs and apps used in your IT system. Ensure that software updates are completed as part of a regular review.