Every business needs to prioritise digital security, today. It doesn’t matter if your business is small or new. In fact, these two characteristics can make you a bigger target than you realise for cyber criminals. After all, without any protection, you are easy pickings, and a hacker can get into your system before you know it. You may have all your information stolen as you and your customers use it, or your business can be held for ransom before it even takes off.
What does held for ransom actually mean?
Simply, put your data is accessed and kidnapped and a ransom figure is demanded by the attacker to give the data back again. An example being that a cyber criminal could hack and steal 10,000 listed items of personal data and then demand £3000 to give the data back again.
Even if the breach doesn’t cost you personally, it will impact your business all the same.
Customers will lose trust in you, some may leave you entirely, and it can be very difficult to recover from that sort of data breach.
Thankfully protecting your business is as easy as following this guide:
1.Use all security features you have available
A strong security system is worthless if you don’t use the security features available. Go through and set up all the different preferences and measures every time you get a new tool or program, including your cloud-based accounts. Even something as simple as locking information away by clearance can help keep your business safe and secure.
2.Train your employees
The human element is the biggest risk to your business. Your employees might have their information stolen, and that information can then be used to access your accounts. They might have a virus on their computer that gets uploaded to your business when they go to work. There are so many ways that you, or any of your employees or guests, could be the weak link. The best way to avoid this is by training yourself and everyone who works for you on a few key cybersecurity methods. By knowing how to protect yourselves, you can better protect your business.
3.Use unique passwords
Your employees should only be using unique passwords at work. The passwords they use should not be used anywhere else. The same ideally applies to your customers, and you can encourage this by requesting they need a shorter password with a capital, symbol, and number or a 16 character or longer password which can be less complex.
4.Invest in managed IT services and security
As soon as you can, invest in managed IT services and cybersecurity for your business. A UK leading Cyber Security Company can really add value by providing your firm with the highest level of digital protection, from helping you with protecting IT issues all the way to helping you prevent cyber security attacks, delivering you secure IT consulting support when you most need it. These services are so much more affordable than hiring an in-house IT specialist, as you get access to an entire specialist team if and when you need it, and can work their cost-effective rates into your overhead.
5.Keep your business updated, upgraded, and locked
Data breaches and other security threats are very costly, with the money lost by businesses growing every year. Many of these breaches can come from back-door weaknesses. Old applications can be a threat, so always keep your tools updated to the latest security patch, and consider removing applications and other tools that you don’t use entirely.
