Three top tips for keeping your ERP systems secure
Cybercrime poses a substantial risk to your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, as one successful attack could detail a company’s operations nationwide.
Therefore, protecting your ERP system against malicious actors is essential for long-term success and a robust supply chain.
Failure to do so can lead to disastrous outcomes, as was recently seen when the world’s largest meat processor was hit with a sophisticated ransomware attack.
The company’s operations in the US and Australia were disrupted as a result, with it having to close beef plants across both countries.
This has led to massive supply issues that could have a long-term impact on the meat industry.
Knowledge is essential
To avoid suffering a similar fate, you need to understand the threats your business faces, and how they could affect the security of your ERP systems.
“To safeguard against cyber-attacks, manufacturers and distributors should watch out for a number of ‘social engineered’ scams that try to exploit organisational weaknesses,” said SYSPRO Chief Technology Officer JP van Loggerenberg.
These scams include Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, which are among the most common for ERP users.
DDoS attacks are where cybercriminals overload a company’s public-facing endpoints to render them unavailable to users.
Phishing is a common way that cybercriminals try to gain entry into your ERP.
Cybercriminals send fraudulent emails and other communications that seem to be from trusted sources or companies.
If your employees interact with these fake emails and messages, it can lead to criminals obtaining their credentials – such as passwords, identity numbers, and banking details.
These can then be used to attack your ERP from within.
Pharming is another threat to your ERP system.
This involves redirecting users to a fake site to steal their information.
When your employees are redirected, they could unknowingly enter their usernames, passwords, and other data on the fake site.
To protect against these and other threats to your ERP system, SYSPRO has three tips for its customers.
1. Don’t delay updates
Software updates ensure that your security systems can keep up with the constant evolution of harmful technologies.
Consistently updating your ERP systems and other software mitigates any vulnerabilities that may have existed in older versions.
2. Access rights
Taking a zero-trust approach to ERP access is an effective tool for avoiding data breaches.
Employees should only be provided with access to the data, tools, and groups they need – and nothing else.
This ensures that if an employee’s credentials are compromised, the potential damage a malicious party can cause to your ERP system is limited.
3. Multi-factor authentication
Companies that still use single-factor authentication are at serious risk of being breached.
Instead, companies should use two-factor or multi-factor authentication to ensure that there are multiple layers of security against attackers.
You should also choose an ERP system that takes active measures to keep your data secure – like SYSPRO.
Click here to get SYSPRO’s ERP security solutions.
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