Cyber Hygiene – Quick Wins

10.12.25

Blog, General

As 2025 comes to an end, we’re looking at ways to help start 2026 on the right cyber secure way. Below are some quick wins to improve the cyber hygiene in your organisation. Share the link to this page with others in your team – simple steps for stronger security.

Keeping your software updated with regular patch management can help you identify potential cyber security gaps, before they become an entry point for a cyber hacker. Scan your systems and run tests to add security fixes as soon as they are available. If you want a deeper dive into your systems, consider a vulnerability assessment or penetration test. Both will highlight where you should focus energy to protect your organisation.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is one of the easiest ways to improve cyber hygiene. Team members enter two or more credentials after using their username and password to enter an account. This could be an app associated with the account, which has a code that changes every 30 seconds, or a code emailed to you.

Improving password policies for team members is a quick and easy way to strengthen defences. Attackers can quickly crack weak passwords using automated techniques and tools and may take advantage of team members that have used the same password for multiple software. To prevent this, team members should update their passwords using a password manager to create complex random passwords. Password managers are a quick and effective way to ensure each account is properly secured.

Password managers can be deployed by your IT partner, your internal team, or in limited-budget organisations, your staff can use the password manager built into their smartphone.

Investing in regular staff training sounds obvious, but realistically, many organisations invest in areas other than cyber security to upskill their team. With human error one of the biggest entries for a cyber attacker, employees that succumb to a hacker often unintentionally fall for phishing scams, use weak passwords or disregard security procedures. Regular training for all team members builds a strong cyber culture and awareness of risks.

Taking regular backups of information or data is a key cyber hygiene method. Backups are ideal for preventing ransomware attacks, as they prevent unauthorised modifications to accounts or software. Ideally, all organisations would use a 3-2-1 backup strategy:

Ultimately a strong backup process lets your organisation wipe clean a system and restore what was lost.

There are a range of quick and easy ways to build a better cyber security culture in your organisation. Start implementing these steps, which will make a massive difference to preventing future cyber attacks.

If you aren’t sure about the best ways to train your team members or test your systems to check for gaps, contact us today at [email protected]. We are here to help your organisation navigate the best route to cyber resilience.