words Al Woods
Improving cyber security for your business is something that every business owner needs to be attentive to. More often than ever criminals are making attempts at compromising the security of businesses. Every business, no matter what its size, is vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
However, small businesses are often the most vulnerable because they do not have all the resources necessary to protect themselves like bigger companies. If you own a small business you need to make sure that you are consistently trying to protect your business from unwanted attacks.
Here’s a look at what you need to do to protect yourself.
Make Authentification a Priority
Two-factor authentication is one of the easiest ways to ensure that you protect your business. You should make it mandatory for employees to use two-factor authentication to access the computers, networks, servers, and infrastructure in your business as this is the first step in developing zero trust architecture for your network. A zero-trust approach to cybersecurity can protect businesses from digital attacks.
Making two-factor authentication a must will deter criminals because it usually requires a personal device, a password, or a code that is sent to that device. If you do not have this device in hand you cannot have access to your mobile.
Train Your Employees
With all the threats to cyber security, it is necessary to train your employees. Due to all the threats that are out there for your business, it is wise to know that your employees are well trained. They are often how cybercriminals access your business.
Most of the time employees will unknowingly compromise the safety and security of your network by giving criminals the necessary information they need to hack your business data. The best way to prevent this from happening is to educate your employees as much as possible.
Make them aware of all the different ways in which your company can be compromised so that they will be more vigilant about people trying to access your data. You should make sure you update this training every once in a while.
Cyber security threats change and your employees need to be on the ball so that they don’t make mistakes and put your data at risk.
Equip Your Staff
One way for criminals to easily access your data is through the devices that your employers used to access your network. With so many businesses going online employees’ activities have been moved to the cloud. This often means that your employees will need to log on to their dashboard from a device.
When you have remote employees working from home and on the go, it is only natural for them to try to access their dashboards and get some work done while they are either at home or on the road. The problem with this is that sometimes their devices are not properly protected.
You can make it harder for a cybercriminal to attack your business by simply giving your employees devices that have security protocols on them.
Give your employees devices that have cybersecurity already built into their hardware. This makes it easier for your employees not to make mistakes and compromise your data.
Beware of Social Media
If you’re looking to promote your business on social media then it is one of the best forms of digital marketing. However, with that being said, social media can also compromise your security if you overshare. It has become customary for people and businesses to share just about any type of information on their social media profiles.
However, you need to be very cognizant of what you are posting. You may accidentally give away trade secrets, but other key security implementations are measures in your company if you overshare them on social media.
Take a long hard look at what you are sharing and if in some ways it gives too much information then you should consider scrapping that post.
Backup and Scan Regularly
When it comes to cyber attacks things can go wrong very fast. This is why you need to always be backing up and updating your system. You need to make sure that your software and hardware are up to date, and able to withstand severe threats at all times.
You can choose how often you want to back up your data. However, it is a good idea to do daily backups so that you are always up to date should you encounter a cyber threat that wipes out your data completely. Breaches such as these can be difficult to recover from and it can take weeks and even months to get things up and running again.
During that time you will lose a lot of revenue and you will have some very disgruntled customers. Having your data backed up is an easy way for you to get your business protected.
Another thing you should be doing regularly is scanning your network for vulnerabilities. You can even get this service for free from some providers. These scans will help you to pinpoint your weakness so that you can take measures to correct them quickly.
Get Help
As a business owner, it can be difficult to monitor cyber security threats. This is especially true if you are a small business owner. You should consider hiring an IT support company to assist you with managing your business security. IT support companies usually have the resources necessary to improve your cybersecurity
Additionally, outsourcing IT will usually be more affordable for you than managing it yourself. You will also be able to have access to professionals with high levels of skill so that your data will always be protected.
Setup Cyber Insurance
Once your business is privy to the personal details of other people you need to make sure that you would take measures in place to protect the information. One measure that you should consider is getting cyber insurance.
If you are collecting people’s credit cards, Social Security numbers, or phone numbers you need to make sure that you keep your information as safe as possible. If you don’t you run the risk of being sued by angry clients and customers who trusted you to protect their data.
Cyber insurance is not that expensive and if you shop around you may be able to find a good deal that will protect your business.
Craft a Security Plan
Creating a cyber security plan will make it easy for you to ward off cyber attacks. Decide which of the strategies already discussed here, you want to put into that plan. Then determine how you are going to execute that plan. This is critical as planning must be followed by action.
You could create a team that focuses specifically on cybersecurity. The job of this team would be to make sure that they are always up to date with the latest cybersecurity news. They can also pinpoint weaknesses in the cyber security system by practicing penetration testing to fix those vulnerabilities. Additionally, you could also hire a cybersecurity professional with certifications such as CISSP, which could provide you with high-level security. Although the average salary for a CISSP holder is significant, it ensures that security measures and systems are properly implemented in the organization with their knowledge and expertise.
If possible your internal team that helps to create a cyber security plan should also communicate with any cyber security company that you employ. This way you will always be kept abreast of the most recent updates and protection you have.
Get Protected
As you can see there’s a lot that needs to be done for you to stay protected. However, even though there is a lot you will be doing to stay protected, you will not regret it.
However, when it comes to the workload for implementation, this is where your cyber security plan comes into play. You can outline in your plan exactly how and when you plan to implement certain cyber security strategies.
The more organized you are when it comes to cyber security the more protection your business has.
