A year-end security checklist
Quiet weeks are good for boring jobs. Eight things to close before January.
The last weeks of the year are quiet. Good time for the boring jobs nobody does in March.
- Accounts: remove everyone who left this year, including freelancers and old vendor logins.
- Admin rights: list who has them. Remove the ones nobody can explain.
- Shared links: find files shared with “anyone with the link” and close the ones that should be private.
- Renewals: domains, certificates and licences expiring in the next six months.
- Backups: restore one real system from backup. Time it.
- Updates: anything on the internet that missed patches this year.
- Passwords: rotate the shared ones, especially if someone who knew them left.
- Contacts: who do you call at 2 am if the site is down or data leaks? Write it down and print it.
Most of this takes an afternoon. Start the year with fewer surprises.