Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems usually handle significant amounts of data and are normally linked to a wide variety of other subsystems, making them especially attractive for hackers intent on holding such data for ransom. Unfortunately, as ERPs become more adopted by various businesses, the incentive to attack ERP systems has grown accordingly.
This doesn’t mean that you should avoid ERPs. The efficiency and visibility improvements they provide to organizations make them necessary in today’s hyper-competitive business environments. Rather, you should implement these recommended ERP cybersecurity practices to keep your business and customers safe:
1. Keep Your ERP Systems Up-to-Date for Cybersecurity
Once an ERP system gets released into the market, it’s only a matter of time before malicious parties develop ways to exploit it. This is generally regarded as inevitable, but it becomes much less of an issue if you perform regular software updates as directed.
As a rule of thumb, any app or module that’s connected to your wider ERP should be updated as soon as security patches become available. Maintaining good “system hygiene” in this way should serve to minimize common attacks like SQL injections and unauthorized remote access.
2. Develop a Realistic Understanding of Your Vulnerabilities
ERPs are especially vulnerable due to their centralized nature and access to critical organizational data. Unfortunately, a 2023 report by the service provider Accenture showed that, though virtually all 1,000 polled business leaders agreed that cybersecurity was necessary for their organization’s stability, 60% did not employ a systemic approach to handling cybersecurity issues.
Business owners and everyone else tasked with handling sensitive data must begin to take cybersecurity seriously. The recent growth of generative AI, in particular, is already causing a serious menace to businesses, and it’s only a matter of time before malicious actors make attempts to breach your business data. Shifting towards a more realistic assessment of the current landscape is now necessary, given the massive threat posed to ERP systems.
3. Make Your Team Aware of their Responsibilities
Though AI is definitely a looming threat to ERP systems, human-targeted attacks are likely to remain the biggest vulnerability. Consistently drilling down the importance of individual responsibility in cybersecurity may not eliminate all possible threats but it should mitigate the types of attacks that business organizations are likely to encounter the most.
