Starting a small business in these hectic years is difficult enough without thinking about external threats from people you can’t see or hear.
Cybersecurity has been a problem for years in both our private lives and our business lives. Privately you already know your risks and know well enough how to protect your online identity but when it comes to businesses it is a bit complicated and cybercriminals tend to develop more and faster.
This is the reason why cybersecurity is very important no matter how big or small your business is. You have to protect your information, your workers, your data, and your integrity. Small to midsize businesses are attacked just as much as big businesses and just in the past few years, small businesses had a significant amount of cyber breaches. The majority of those businesses fell through only six months after the attack.
If you want to prevent this and not become another statistic number then go to the website inform yourself, protect yourself and endure anything they have to throw at you.
This article today will address the biggest cybersecurity facts you need to know to stay protected and to fight off any potential attackers. Read carefully and thoroughly.
1. Employees
Source: openaccessgovernment.org
Employees are a key to any business. It wouldn’t be able to operate without them. But employees have another purpose in a business next to the most obvious one. They have to be your first line of defense against cyber-attacks. Now we are not suggesting that every worker in the company go through training that will prepare them to fight cybercriminals, no. We suggest that your employees that work with sensitive data, online communications, and payments be as trained and informed to the extent that they can easily recognize and repel the first attack on your security.
Basic security practices and appropriate online usage guidelines as well as cyber policies have to be something that they have to know in the middle of the day and the middle of the night. It is just like in the army, you have to be prepared for anything and there shouldn’t be any surprises. Most cyber-attacks happen thanks to employees who are ill-trained and do not know or understand the basics of how these cybercriminals operate. Information and education are the main things here and you are advised to send your crucial staff to any seminars or educations regarding this as much as possible.
2. Network
Source: phoenixnap.com
Having a safe network from which your business operates is a half job done. Having a network that doesn’t have at least the basic security necessary is simply asking for a breach. What you need to invest in is the latest security software, operating system, and web browsers are the first to stand against these menaces. Whether you are an iOS or Windows OS user constantly updating your operating system is imperative and your best bet against cybercriminals.
Those constant update rollouts can sometimes be pesky and tiring but those are the product of your OS finding possible weak spots and security breach places that need to be updated and patched with the next update. This is why sometimes you have a couple of updates in a month or two and sometimes there is none in six to eight months. Your OS can’t work alone, the second part that should aid it is the security software like antiviruses and malware scanner software. These exist for a reason and they have saved millions of businesses worldwide from problems we mentioned at the beginning of the article. Fresh update as soon as it rolls out with a good antivirus and antimalware software is your best shield.
3. Firewall
Source: pcmag.com
This is something you are all aware of. The way the firewall operates is that it surrounds your network and safeguard it from all possible attacks from the outside of your network. This I something that is automatically upon every operating system but it isn’t a bad thing to check whether it is on or not from time to time. Certain programs and software are that you install will sometimes shut down the Firewall without notice and leave you vulnerable. This is why the first step we mentioned – educated employees are that important. They at least have to know where to look for these settings and to figure out if the firewall is up or not. Besides the OS firewall, you can alternatively look for firewall software online. There are pretty decent ones but we suggest you stick to your OS one since it gets updated with every OS update and you don’t have to think about it.
4. Data
Source: wam.ae
Your data is your livelihood. This is something that should be considered as a bar of gold in your business. It should be well guarded and it should be backed up whenever you get the chance. A good practice is to have a separate drive away from your network and back up everything on it. Keep it away and only physically accessible. The backup of your data can also be made automatic and stored somewhere on a high-security cloud. This is another practice that makes your life easy and doesn’t burden you with thinking and scheduling your next backup. It will be done whenever you set it to and it will transmit that data to a cloud server of your choosing.
5. Cloud storage
Source: pcworld.com
Since we mentioned it above we also have to tell you that more and more businesses decide to store all of their data on clouds whether they are critical or non-critical data. The right cloud storage service will offer you security and safety of all your data which is why you have to do thorough research and be well informed. There are many cloud storage services but just a few will boast high security and integrity. Cloud storage also means that you will have your data encrypted and locked away under an additional layer of protection, which although costs more, shouldn’t have to be a problem. It is always better to pay extra for these things than wait to live the same fate as many of the businesses that closed down sometime after the cyberattacks.
6. Control access
Source: securitymagazine.com
Your data should be under tight control. The computers from which the main bulk of online operations and business go should be locked and limited for only a couple of employees. This is another important precaution and it shouldn’t be overlooked. There is no point in allowing everyone access to certain data and info and every key computer in your network should be locked after use.
