Just because yours is a small business, it doesn’t mean that you can skip cybersecurity. Even SMBs gather sensitive data on a continuous basis, but preventing cyberattacks is not just about compliance. As a business owner, you should be concerned about fixing security concerns efficiently, to reduce the possible consequences of a breach or data theft. In this post, we are sharing potential ways to address cybersecurity concerns for your business.
- Make cybersecurity an organizational goal. If you really want to implement cybersecurity policies, you have to get the entire business together. Bring down the departmental silos, allow collaboration to happen between teams, and make every employee responsible, accountable for IT resources they handle, use, and manage.
- Take backups and ensure data encryption. Today, hackers are relying on various means and methods, including ransomware, malware, and phishing, to cause a data breach, or get access to sensitive network resources. To prevent the same, data encryption remains the most effective solution. Also, take backups, so that systems and networks can be restored immediately, whenever required.
- Update third-party software, firmware and apps. Developers and parent companies often release new security patches and versions of their software, firmware, and apps, and that’s for a reason. These updates should be installed immediately, as soon as these are made available. Keep in mind that cybercriminals are mostly exploiting existing security vulnerabilities, rather than trying to actually ‘hack’ into devices.
- Invest in anti-malware. From antivirus, to anti-ransomware, antispyware and other programs, there are a wide range of anti-malware suites in the market, many of which have been designed specifically for small businesses. Consider recommending one for your employees, and ensure all networked devices have active firewalls.
- Consider cybersecurity insurance. There is no denying that cybersecurity insurance is expensive, but sometimes, despite your best efforts, a security breach can occur. Without cybersecurity insurance¸ the losses become your company’s liability. The purpose of such insurance is to actually mitigate some of the risks associated with security breaches.
- Improve password protection. All passwords must be 12 characters long, should have special characters, must be hard to guess, and should never be reused or repeated. Also, employees should be using a password management tool, and wherever necessary, multifactor authentication should be enabled.
If you have many privilege users, ensure that you have an efficient access management suite in place. A few steps can help you mitigate and reduce most cybersecurity concerns, without spending a fortune.
