Is your data secure? Do you have a secure and safe backup of your business? Many small businesses don’t believe that cybersecurity is important to their business but this is not true. Many cyber criminals target small business because of the limited to no security they have and because they can then have access to bigger businesses by stealing the information from small businesses. When a cybercriminal hits it could bring your organisation to its knees or even cause you to close your doors. But what can you do?
Here are seven steps to ensuring your business is cyber secure.
STEP 1: Create strong passwords
We may all get irritated with passwords with special characters and numbers but this is what adds security to your password. It is better to have a phrase with special characters (H@ppyF@m1ly) than a single word (dog). Furthermore, it is imperative to keep this password a secret. If an unknown person calls you and asks for your password or asks you to email a password don’t. Also don’t have the same password for everything.
Another way to secure your data is by having a two-step authentication process. This will ensure even if someone gets your username and password they need to do an extra step before they can access the data. If you struggle to remember your passwords, then it is important to keep them secure with a password encryption storage device.
STEP 2: Educate your staff
It is important that you train your staff on what the potential threats to cybersecurity there could be. This will help them to identify it and send you any suspicious emails so that you can curb the impact of a security breach. You can learn more about different types of cyber-attacks here.
STEP 3: Keep your software up to date
It is important that your operating systems and applications are always up to date as this will help to prevent security invasions into your system. Most software companies continually update their security features to help prevent the latest known cyber-attacks. By updating your email application, you can start to prevent phishing emails. It is also important to ensure your security software is up to date.
STEP 4: Secure your Wi-Fi
If you allow visitors to your establishment to use your Wi-Fi, ensure you let them use the guest Wi-Fi. Never allow them access to your business’ Wi-Fi. They could use this connection to access your servers and important secret information which could be dangerous if it landed in the wrong hands.
STEP 5: Create a cybersecurity policy
It is important to create a document which outlines how your business deals with cybersecurity. This document should also outline who is responsible for the different areas of cybersecurity and what the potential threats to your business may be. Learn how to create a cybersecurity plan here.
STEP 6: Keep only relevant information
It is important that you only keep the information of your customers that you need and for the time that it is important for business. By limiting the data, you have on your customers, you will limit your cybersecurity liability. This is also relevant for the acts which have come into action around the world to protect people’s personal information.
STEP 7: Backup your data
It is imperative that you keep a backup of your data. Ensure that you use a cloud service that has security in place to prevent people from accessing your data.
STEP 8: Limit access to the data
Ensure that only people who need access to certain data has it. Not everyone needs access to all the data on your systems therefore it is important to create levels of access to the various files on your server.
By following these steps, you will be well on your way to securing your data against cyber-attacks.
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