11 Cybersecurity Essentials For Small Businesses

11 Cybersecurity Essentials For Small Businesses

Cybercriminals are always chasing after business data. If you have not given cybersecurity any thought until this moment, you have plenty of company. As previously cited, 87% of SMBs feel they are immune to attack.

The time to protect your company’s assets is before thieves discover an entry point into your systems and software. To revisit the home analogy, it is better to install strong locks, new doors and windows, and an alarm system before a burglary, rather than after.

Many SMBs lack the budget for full-time IT employees to focus on cybersecurity. As a result, the CEO, an operations manager, or someone with a similar title handles IT security. Many shy away from it because they feel it isn’t in their wheelhouse.

Basic cybersecurity steps that any SMB can take are so easy that anyone from your company can take the lead. Most rely upon simple strategies that are akin to locking doors and setting alarms; these can be undertaken by nearly anyone.

11 Ways to Strengthen Cybersecurity at Your Small Business

1. Provide basic IT security training to your entire team

Phishing scams, viruses, and other attacks can be prevented through training. Training consisting of methods for identifying suspicious emails, learning how to spot and avoid clickbait, and similar concepts can save your company a lot of headaches later. Courses are available online. SANS Cyber Aces offers free business security courses. Heimdal Security offers a list of 50 free and paid courses for cybersecurity that can supplement your internal training.

2. List all assets

Like photographing your treasures for an insurance company, creating a list of cyber assets and sensitive data is a great first step to securing them. Once you know what you have to keep safe, you can come up with the plan to guard it.

3. Identify current security risks

List all software, including web browsers, and determine when they were last updated. Patches and updates may seem intrusive and annoying, but they are often released to close known gaps that hackers exploit. Keeping your software and browsers updated offers some level of basic protection.

4. Install good anti-virus protection

Business antivirus protection scans websites, links, documents, and emails to identify risky elements. Common packages such as McAfee AntiVirus and Malware Bytes can protect against common threats.

5. Disconnect computers with sensitive data

Computers hosting sensitive data can be disconnected from the Internet, thus protecting them from many common threats. If they aren’t linked to the net, only a physical break-in at your office can compromise them.

6. Talk to your third-party vendors about security

Companies that host your business data in the cloud or companies that send mailing lists out to vendors for production and mailing of marketing pieces or emails should discuss additional security protocols for their lists. You may be great at guarding your data, but your vendor may not hold to the same standards. Find out now how they protect their customers’ data.

7. Insist on strong passwords and change frequently

Brute force attacks can compromise common passwords quickly and easily. Some simply try combinations of dictionary words and numbers until they get in, like picking a lock. Random combinations of letters, numbers, and symbols are the most secure. Write down passwords on paper, the old-fashioned way, instead of keeping spreadsheets on your computer. Insist that employees change network passwords monthly.

8. Designate someone responsible for...

IT and finance departments are the logical places to look for a cybersecurity champion. If you do not have such departments, anyone can learn the basics. You may also wish to hire a consultant or an external IT vendor to improve your systems and teach you how to maintain safeguards.

9. Consider cyber insurance

A new form of insurance to protect business owners against losses or damages resulting from cyber-attack is cyber insurance. This insurance may cover damages to your hardware, software, and network systems, as well as any experts, consultants, or others you may need to hire to clean up after an attack. Although the cost of premiums for such insurance is not cheap, it is far less than the cost of doing it yourself in the event of a breach.

10. Protect all Internet-connected devices

This includes printers, mobile phones, and other devices connected to the Internet. With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), more electronic devices than ever connect in some way to the Internet. Put the same protection on these devices as you do your network computers.

11. Encrypt extremely sensitive data

Encryption converts data into a code that can be read (unencrypted) only if the recipient has the cryptography key. Although a dedicated device may be needed to encrypt hardware and software, if you deal with highly sensitive data, like QuickBooks company files or Sage encryption offers another line of defense.

Cloud Hosting Can Protect Data

We're serious about data security here at Summit Hosting, and we'd love to speak with you about how cloud hosting can enhance your business and help keep your data ultra secure.

Want to learn more? Call 888-244-6559 today or drop us a note here so we can discuss in what ways moving to the cloud can help your business.