LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Many companies are currently struggling to fill necessary cyber security jobs across the board.
A State of Cybersecurity 2022 report revealed that 46% of all companies have understaffed cyber security departments.
What can Las Vegas companies in this very situation do to stay Cyber Safe?
Lt. Allen Larsen with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has some advice on the matter.
“The biggest thing is just training up the staff you do have,” he said.
The number one priority is to implement two-factor authentication.
“Which means if they’re gonna be logging into any accounts or systems or anything like that that you have at your business that there is a separate authentication that happens,” he told 8 News Now.
This includes a text message to verify identity or an authenticator app to log in.
“A lot of these compromises where businesses are losing money from these different cyber criminals is when there are e-mails that are getting sent out,” Lt. Larsen added.
He said he also recommends never sending out any account information, or any log-in information via email.
Another obstacle can oftentimes be having a split workforce with some employees working in-house while others are working remotely.
“Basically all you’re doing is you are increasing your surface area, and the ways that people can attack you…. from a cyber perspective,” Lt. Larsen said.
Another tip for companies that have employees working remotely is making sure they’re using a VPN or Virtual Private Network.
Also, make sure the people you’re in contact with are people that are actually staffed at the company, especially in the case when scammers call and act as new employees or someone from a different department.
“Before you put anything in an e-mail to somebody, I would pick up the phone and call,” he added.
Lt. Larsen also pointed out that if a company is struggling to staff the cyber team, useful information can d be available and can be imparted to the team currently staffed.
“Making sure you employees have the training they need to not fall for some of these common scams that are out there,” he added.
