This Is How You Enhance Internal Website Security

Robust Security Policies

The first step is to lay all the ground rules regarding insider security practices. The policies need to be clear and straightforward. You can refer to ISO/IEC 27001:2022 as your guide to information security, cybersecurity, and privacy protection.

• Have a password policy. Introduce a policy that requires employees to create strong passwords and change them every 60 days. You can refer to Google’s best practices in creating strong passwords.
• If your employees work remotely, have a remote access policy, e.g. require them to secure their home networks.
• Have clear steps for reporting any security incidents.
• Tailor the policies to different departments or job roles.
• Compliance with security standards and regulations must be taken into account as well.

Depending on the industry you operate in, there are certain safety rules and regulations that you need to comply with. For example, the medical industry needs to follow HIPAA, the financial sector needs to comply with PCI DSS, and companies in Europe need to comply with GDPR. Even if your industry has yet to issue specific standards, it is best to refer to general regulations and strictly follow them.

Data Encryption and Authentication

Encryption is a component of data security that involves encoding data to render it unintelligible and unrecognizable from its original form. Data encryption is an additional protection layer for sensitive data. For example, encrypting email communications ensures that the data is unreadable even when outsiders have access to it.

2FA is a security measure that ensures online account access is authenticated. Users enter their username and password, followed by a second factor, which could be a personal identification number, password, secret questions, or a keystroke pattern. This significantly mitigates the risk of unauthorized users entering the network.

Limit Access to Sensitive Information

It is crucial to know where data is stored so access can be granted accordingly. You should only grant necessary access, limiting any exposure to sensitive data and insider threats. It helps to take the zero trust approach, where trust is not assumed but earned, even for insiders. In addition to strict access controls, this approach regularly confirms the identity and access privileges to ensure trust.

Client certificates help ensure that only authorized clients or users access company information and services.

Securing Integration Endpoints

Modern intranet platforms offer everything employees need in one central repository. As convenient as this is, the multiple API integrations also introduce vulnerabilities to the intranet. Make sure you secure endpoints and regularly inspect them so they don’t expose private API data to any potential digital intruders. Keep in mind that endpoints are prime targets for those who want to access and manipulate sensitive information since endpoints are where employees interact with data and systems.

Regular Auditing and Data Backup

Cyber threats are ever-evolving; hence your IT security team needs to regularly conduct audits. This involves behavior analytics to detect any malicious intent or unauthorized activities on the intranet platform, reviewing access logs, system configurations or access privileges.

In case of a data breach, disaster, or system failure, you should have data backups. The task should be performed regularly, with multiple copies stored in multiple locations. You also need to regularly check the backup process to make sure the data is not lost or corrupted.

Awareness Training for Employees

To put everything we discussed into practice, your employees need to be able to implement the policies effectively. Educating your employees will help you achieve this goal. Here are some practical tips:

• Keep the training short and simple. Provide employees with easily digestible training sessions.
• Make sure employees understand what kind of data is considered sensitive and how it can be exploited.
• When management actively participates in the training process, employees tend to approach the session with higher levels of seriousness and engagement.