Attacks on cloud accounts are accelerating, according to Microsoft’s latest Security Intelligence Report (PDF), with a tripling of attacks aimed at users’ accounts and login credentials during 2017 compared to the previous year.

The report – which looks at attacks in the first quarter- stated that accounts are being compromised due to “weak, guessable passwords and poor password management, followed by targeted phishing attacks and breaches of third-party services”.

This, coupled with the number of cyber-attacks that are perpetrated daily, not only shows the importance of IT security but also the benefit of managing your IT security adequately. A simple step that organisations of all shapes and sizes can take to help manage their IT security is to implement a strong password management system:

• Use a password with a mix of at least six mixed-case alphabetic characters, numerals and special characters.
• Use a password that is difficult to guess but easy for you to remember, so you do not have to write it down.
• Do not share your password with others, even for a very good reason.
• Do not store your password on any media unless it is protected from unauthorised access (e.g. encrypted with an approved encryption method).
• Change your password frequently, at least every 90 days.

There are ways to ensure that the organisations that you partner with have an IT Security policy. One sure way to see if an organisation takes the issue seriously is to look at their accreditations. One such accreditation is the ISO 27001 accreditation – this is an internationally recognised standard that describes best practice for an ISMS (information security management system). Achieving accredited certification to ISO 27001 demonstrates that your company is following information security best practice, and delivers an independent, expert assessment of whether your data is adequately protected.

Redstor are proud to have been awarded ISO9001 and ISO27001 accreditations, verifying the company’s ISO quality control and information security standards as integral components of all Redstor’s business processes.