SPRING 2025

10THE DISTRIBUTOR’S

10THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINKJoe DysartJoe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Thousand Oaks,California. A journalist for 20 years, his articles have appeared in more than 40publications, including The New York Times and The Financial Times of London.During the past decade, his work has focused exclusively on ecommerce.Telephone: 631-256-6602; web: www.joedysart.com; email: joe@dysartnewsfeatures.comCYBERSECURITY: THE PLAYBOOK FOR FASTENERDISTRIBUTORS: HOW TO STAY AHEAD OF HACKERSWith another year of hacker break-ins looming beforeus, now is a great time to evaluate the cybersecurityprotecting your fastener distributorship to ensure thatyou’re using the latest in technology and methods to keepcyber-criminals at bay.Here are the top ten tactics cybersecurity prosrecommend to help ensure that breaking into your computernetwork is -- for hackers -- simply too overwhelming to try:¤ Consider Zero Trust Architecture: A relativelynew approach to business network security, this strategy isbased on the assumption that cyber-threats can originatefrom both outside -- and within -- your computer network.Ergo, you must unfortunately proceed with aphilosophy of ‘trust no-one.’ZTA begins with micro-segmentation -- or the slicingupof your computer network into smaller segments --each of which has its own set of security controls. Ideally,a hacker can be trapped in a single segment of yournetwork -- rather than scoring keys to the entire kingdom-- if you’re using micro-segmentation.Next, you’ll want to implement the concept of ‘leastprivilege access’ across your network. That ensuresemployees are only given access to the systems theyabsolutely need to do their jobs.And finally, you’ll want to adopt multi-factorauthentication across all systems in the network servingyour fastener distributorship -- such as the requirementof a password, followed by the need for a separate codesent the user’s smartphone.“Zero Trust Architectures have become the aspirationCONTRIBUTOR ARTICLEHACKERS ARE WILY -- BUT SO ARE THE BUSINESSES USING STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES TO THWART THEMand objective of cyber defense operations nationwide,”says Ismael Valenzuela, author, “Defensible SecurityArchitecture and Engineering,” a course available throughSans, a cybersecurity trainer.¤ Continually Train Employees in GoodCybersecurity Hygiene: Since the dawn of hackers,cybersecurity pros have known that fooling employees isone of the easiest ways to break into a business network.Friendly sounding emails soliciting employees forpasswords, harried phone calls asking for emergencycomputer access, company laptops lost on trains or in coffeeshops -- these and similar missteps are all nightmares thatcomputer security officers fret over regularly.Security pros advise that every business usingcomputers and the Internet -- no matter how small --create a cybersecurity training program for all employees.CONTINUED ON PAGE 82