As we close out another year at MSA and look forward to 2025, we are again reminded of all we are thankful for as well as the vigilance necessary to protect our assets. As mentioned at the end of last year, the following are a few things to consider.

A great place to start in securing your environment is to review the past year, considering what went right, what went wrong and where you need to be.

• Were there any business disruptions, incidents, or breaches in your organization or with a vendor/partner that you rely on? How can these be addressed to prevent them from happening again? Were there any close calls that highlighted a threat that could be addressed now?
• Review priorities, infrastructure concerns and any policy or procedures that may not have had a fresh set of eyes on them for some time.
• Not sure where to start? Begin with the easy items first! Are backups are being done, especially on the systems you rely on?  Is routine patching of systems happening? Consider implementing multi-factor authentication on all systems possible. Plan to improve wherever is possible and reasonable.

Cheers to a Safe and Secure New Year!