Christian Espinosa, a cyber security expert and principal with Alpine Security, has some very simple advice for a complex problem: Get serious about data security now before you’re forced to. “Hackers are everywhere and they spend all of their time looking for vulnerabilities,” Espinosa told the Power Summit audience yesterday morning. “You have to lock your systems down better and get everybody in your organization to change their technology habits.”

Espinosa went on to detail some steps that companies can take today to ensure they’re less apt to be attacked by cyber criminals. His first tip: Know thyself. “You have to know how all of your people access your systems and understand exactly what’s authorized in your systems – both hardware and software,” Espinosa said.

Secondly, you need a holistic approach to cybersecurity that encompasses all of people, processes, and technology. “You have to focus on all three so that your people are doing the right things, you have the right processes in place to ensure security, and you have the right technology behind it all,” Espinosa said. “It’s not enough to have one or two of those three. It has to be all of them, and the time to act is now. You don’t want to be the next organization to be attacked.”

Counselor spoke to Espinosa after his session to find out his best advice for creating solid network and online passwords. Click here to watch the interview, or click on the video below.

ASI Power Summit 2015 - Christian Espinosa - Alpine Security from ASI Marketing on Vimeo.