Cyber criminals don’t discriminate between sizes of companies; they attack in every way they can. Small businesses are especially at risk of a cyber attack because they likely haven’t developed strong security systems and controls. Every company should do what it can to protect itself from a cyber attack because a single breach could be a drain on time, money, and other valuable resources.
It’s much easier to prevent a cyber attack than to rebuild after one. Take the following steps now to safeguard your company from future breaches.
Train Employees Continuously
Cybersecurity constantly evolves to keep up with the ever-changing attack methods. You need to frequently review the cybersecurity best practices to make sure you’re covering new vulnerabilities.
Inform yourself so you can train your employees and implement policies to keep your company safe. Sharing this information and training your staff must become priorities. New safety measures must reach all your employees, because they all play a crucial role in protecting your interests.
Use a Two-Factor Authentication
Even the most creative passwords aren’t sufficient protection from hackers because they don’t protect against human error. In the last few years, hackers have created clever phishing scams to gain easier access to sensitive information.
For example, a hacker may send an official-looking link to a website a person would regularly use, and when that individual clicks on it, they’re asked to log in. As soon as the username and password are entered, those details are immediately sent to the hacker, and they gain access to that account. Once they gain access to an account, the hacker sends links to everyone in the address book to help their virus spread. This results in months of apologies and explanations, and it wastes your time and money as you explain to your customers why they received a fraudulent link from you.
Save yourself from this scenario by protecting your accounts with two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication requires not only a username and password but also something the account user has in their possession, typically their cellphone. After entering the correct username and password, a notification is sent to the phone to request permission to log in.
This method prevents accounts from being accessed without permission while adding only three seconds to the login process. Most email services offer two-factor authentication for free, and you should sign up for it on both your personal and work emails. You should also use this system to access all sensitive data, such as employee and customer records.
Hire a Cybersecurity Firm
Your business’s and customers’ security requires regular attention from an expert. Cybersecurity companies spend all day thinking about and investing their resources to prevent cyber attacks. Their success depends solely on maintaining their clients’ security. To benefit from their success and protection, you need to be part of their network. Once you hire a cybersecurity firm, you’ll better prevent cyber attacks and also experience the following benefits:
Technologies and vulnerabilities change as businesses grow, so you must have experts standing between your company and the innumerable attacks coming your way. Hiring a cybersecurity expert is much less expensive than recovering from a data breach.
Click “Update Now” Regularly
Every time you’re asked to update software is because a bug has been removed or a fix has been made to the program. If you choose to delay software updates, you put yourself, your equipment, and your data at risk for an attack.
When an attack is discovered, the updated software helps ensure protections are in place to prevent serious risks. By delaying updates, you’re delaying the benefits of those new protections and exposing yourself to large issues you may not be able to fix.
It takes a collective effort to keep companies safe, and using the above tips can help in those endeavors. Be sure to share these tips with your co-workers and employees as you work together to create a secure business.
