With the holidays right around the corner, and cybercriminals’ activity increasing during business downtime, it is more important than ever for organizations and individuals both to take practical steps to protect themselves from potential cyber-attacks.
Noé Mantel, Cybersecurity Specialist at Outpost24, has shared the following tips for how to do just that:
Tip #1: Check the reliability of your backups
Before going on holiday, it is essential to ensure that critical backups are up to date, functional, and stored offline. Organizations should systematically test their data recovery procedures and ensure that no backups are stored on the same network as production systems to prevent ransomware from encrypting or deleting them.
Tip #2: Apply updates and patches before the holidays
The end of the year is an ideal time to deploy pending patches and update obsolete software. Regular vulnerability analysis allows you to prioritize risks and fix systems exposed to the internet or close to critical assets first. A centralized patch management system, based on risk assessment, is an essential pillar of effective security.
Tip #3: Strengthen your network security
Multi-layered segmentation limits an attacker’s lateral movement in the event of an intrusion. Filtering malicious IP addresses, using URL whitelists, and closing unnecessary ports are simple actions that greatly reduce the attack surface. Regular traffic analysis also helps identify potential anomalies.
Tip #4: Closely monitor the most exposed services
Remote access such as RDP and VPNs must be protected by automatic locking mechanisms and monitored via connection logs. It is also recommended to disable all unused ports and to check the security practices of third-party service providers and employees working remotely.
Tip #5: Avoid public USB ports when travelling
Juice jacking remains an emerging and little-known threat. Companies must educate their teams never to use public charging ports in train stations, hotels or airports. A personal mains charger or external battery is the safest alternative.
Tip #6: Adopt rigorous identity and access management
Identity control is central to protecting infrastructure. IAM provides complete visibility into users, their permissions and their login behavior. Contextual analysis and artificial intelligence make it easier to detect anomalies without imposing overly restrictive rules.
Tip #7: Strengthen your passwords and MFA
The implementation of unique, sufficiently complex and regularly renewed passwords remains a fundamental aspect of cybersecurity. The use of password managers and the systematic adoption of multi-factor authentication significantly reduce the risk of compromise. Tools that block compromised passwords further strengthen this essential barrier.
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This entry was posted on December 18, 2025 at 11:38 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Outpost24. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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A Cybersecurity Specialist’s Survival Guide for the Holiday Season From Outpost24
With the holidays right around the corner, and cybercriminals’ activity increasing during business downtime, it is more important than ever for organizations and individuals both to take practical steps to protect themselves from potential cyber-attacks.
Noé Mantel, Cybersecurity Specialist at Outpost24, has shared the following tips for how to do just that:
Tip #1: Check the reliability of your backups
Before going on holiday, it is essential to ensure that critical backups are up to date, functional, and stored offline. Organizations should systematically test their data recovery procedures and ensure that no backups are stored on the same network as production systems to prevent ransomware from encrypting or deleting them.
Tip #2: Apply updates and patches before the holidays
The end of the year is an ideal time to deploy pending patches and update obsolete software. Regular vulnerability analysis allows you to prioritize risks and fix systems exposed to the internet or close to critical assets first. A centralized patch management system, based on risk assessment, is an essential pillar of effective security.
Tip #3: Strengthen your network security
Multi-layered segmentation limits an attacker’s lateral movement in the event of an intrusion. Filtering malicious IP addresses, using URL whitelists, and closing unnecessary ports are simple actions that greatly reduce the attack surface. Regular traffic analysis also helps identify potential anomalies.
Tip #4: Closely monitor the most exposed services
Remote access such as RDP and VPNs must be protected by automatic locking mechanisms and monitored via connection logs. It is also recommended to disable all unused ports and to check the security practices of third-party service providers and employees working remotely.
Tip #5: Avoid public USB ports when travelling
Juice jacking remains an emerging and little-known threat. Companies must educate their teams never to use public charging ports in train stations, hotels or airports. A personal mains charger or external battery is the safest alternative.
Tip #6: Adopt rigorous identity and access management
Identity control is central to protecting infrastructure. IAM provides complete visibility into users, their permissions and their login behavior. Contextual analysis and artificial intelligence make it easier to detect anomalies without imposing overly restrictive rules.
Tip #7: Strengthen your passwords and MFA
The implementation of unique, sufficiently complex and regularly renewed passwords remains a fundamental aspect of cybersecurity. The use of password managers and the systematic adoption of multi-factor authentication significantly reduce the risk of compromise. Tools that block compromised passwords further strengthen this essential barrier.
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This entry was posted on December 18, 2025 at 11:38 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Outpost24. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.