Cybersecurity is a concern for businesses of all sizes. While attacks on big corporations might grab all the headlines, more than 40 percent of attacks target small businesses.
If you’re a small business owner, you need to take steps to improve cybersecurity. The question is, “How?” It’s not like you have an unlimited budget or can simply hire a whole bunch of IT team members.
Don’t worry. There are plenty of steps you can take to boost security in your business. Some of them are simple, some of them are free, and all of them will help you protect your business.
1. Train Your Team Members
One of the best things you can do to improve cybersecurity for your small business is to train your team. Not everyone needs to be a security expert, but everyone has a role to play.
Phishing and social engineering tactics are some of the most common cyber threats. These attacks work by targeting your employees and tricking them into giving up sensitive information.
You’ve probably seen phishing in action. Someone pretending to be Netflix or the bank sends you an email. They demand your account information.
If you give it up, you’ve just been hackIf you’re a small business owner, you need to take steps to improve cybersecurity.ed.
Phishing attacks are getting harder to spot.
Training your team to be aware of them is a step in the right direction. People will be more cautious, and they’ll think twice before hitting “send.”
Also train your team on proper security protocols, such as not using public WiFi to access company documents.
2. Update Passwords Often
Using strong passwords is another key component of a small business cybersecurity strategy. Your team should also be encouraged to change up those passwords regularly.
This makes passwords harder to guess. It also means that, if a breach happens, there’s a chance the data will be outdated before the hackers can use it. If you have your team change passwords monthly, then hackers who got data two months ago won’t have much luck getting into your systems.
3. Improve Cybersecurity With Better Software
As you work to make your business more secure, you’ll want to consider the software you’re using. A good security strategy starts with the right anti-malware and antivirus software.
Of course, you should also think about the security settings on other apps and programs you use. Consider a policy about keeping software up to date too.
Regular software updates help to patch vulnerabilities that cybercriminals might try to exploit. By making sure everyone is using the latest version of an app, you can keep your business more secure.
4. Partner With IT Managed Services
You may not have the resources to hire your own in-house digital security team. That doesn’t mean you can’t get the expert help you need to secure your small business.
Managed IT service providers From Austin can help you improve your security. Their expert teams will have both the experience and the tools to keep your business safer.
They can also assist with tasks like compliance and vulnerability monitoring. In turn, you can free up your team’s time. The business will be more secure, and you’ll have time for more too.
5. Use Encryption Everywhere
Next, you’ll want to consider security measures that protect your data. Encryption is one of the best tools you have at your disposal.
You may already use encryption on your website. Secure socket layer or SSL, encryption changes your web address from HTTP to HTTPS. Making the switch keeps data your customers enter through forms safer.
It’s also important for your SEO.
Your website isn’t the only place you can use encryption, though. You can also use it to secure data transfer in email and on servers you’re using.
Think about the tools you use as well. Apps and cloud providers should be using encryption to protect your data.
The best messenger chatbots also incorporate security by encrypting messages.
Encryption makes it more difficult for anyone to use your data, even if they do manage to get their hands on it. Before they can make heads or tails of it, they’ll need to crack it. If your encryption is strong enough, they may not be able to.
6. Monitor Employee Access
If you want to keep business and personal data safe, you also need to pay attention to who is using it. Not every employee needs access to your customer database or financial information.
You’ll want to keep an eye on who has access to certain types of data. You’ll also want to keep an eye on how they access that information.
This comes back to proper employee training. Employees who do have access to sensitive data need to protect it. They should follow security protocols to keep it safe.
That might mean people should only access data from their work phone or over a secure Internet connection. You may also want to monitor when and how often people access sensitive data.
This can help you identify patterns and it may even help you detect potential misuse of your data or someone’s account.
7. Have a Plan
Finally, a small business owner should create a plan for dealing with a potential data breach. No security is so ironclad that you’ll be able to stop every attack forever.
You should create backups of data. This can help you if someone hacks in and corrupts or deletes information. Backups can also be helpful if you need to wipe systems after malware or ransomware infects a system.
With a backup, you won’t need to worry about losing data or files.
Another consideration is cybersecurity insurance. A policy can help you manage the financial damages that result from a breach. The right policy can help you protect your business and its reputation.
Simplifying Security
It doesn’t have to be tough to improve cybersecurity for your small business. With these seven steps, you’ll be well on your way to a more secure business.
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