20% of small and medium-sized businesses have experienced a ransomware infiltration that led to a temporary shut down. 12% of those businesses lost revenue as a result.
Big corporations aren’t the only target for cyber attacks.
Healthcare providers, institutions such as colleges and universities, government agencies, small to large scale businesses and nonprofit organizations are all prey to cyber attacks. If your business stores customer information, personal information of employees, or intellectual property, you need processes and policies in place to protect that data.
Keeping your data secure means going beyond regulatory compliance. It involves educating employees and taking steps to secure physical and stored data.
Below we discuss the 10 ways you can protect your company against cyber attacks.
Train Staff
Despite a growing prevalence of cyber attacks, 80% of small businesses don’t have a formal Internet security policy and 69% don’t even have an informal policy.
Your employees should be trained on the internal and external vulnerabilities of your network and how to identify cyber weaknesses. Anybody using your technology should have training on cyber fraud, phishing, malware, and hacking.
Cyber threats and schemes are constantly developing. Staff training should be an ongoing process to ensure that your staff knows how to minimize the chance of data leaks or a cyber attack.
Your employees are your first line of defense, so choose the right IT training for your staff.
Use Effective Passwords
The most common passwords in the US are ‘123456’ and ‘password’. Obviously, these are far too easy for a hacker to guess.
Follow these password guidelines to keep your passwords safe:
1. Change default passwords to unique passwords.
2. Use different passwords for different accounts. Every user should have a unique login password.
3. Use a password manager to securely store your passwords.
4. Create strong, hard to guess passwords by using a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
Don’t Delay Upgrades
It’s tempting to delay upgrades because, unless you outsource your IT, it disrupts the workflow of your employees. But updates are an important line of defense in protecting against cyber attacks.
Google, Microsoft, and Apple provide updates based on the newest developments in cybersecurity. As the level of security set by their software engineers becomes outdated, they make updates to ensure your data is protected.
In order to keep your data protected, those OS and app updates should be made as soon as they are available and installed with the right settings. Failing to make updates leaves your data vulnerable to the newest developments in cyber threat.
Test Your Coding
You likely have a website for your business and the coding behind that website may be vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Coding that is improper or outdated opens up your website to attack by hackers. They can access a lot of data by getting into your website code. Hackers can even disrupt your business by changing information or sending viruses and malware to those that contact you or view your page.
You can prevent this from happening by having your website tested for errors using processes like penetration testing.
Keep in mind that online businesses need online security just as much as brick-and-mortar businesses, if not more-so.
Outsource Your IT to a Managed Service Provider
By moving all of your data from an in-house server to the server of a managed IT service firm, you’re protecting your data.
Managed IT service providers take all of your IT and house it in their facilities. Not only do they use the most secure technologies to protect your data, they also take care of upgrades, updates, and compliance.
Regularly Backup Your Data
Losing your data to a cyber attack or having it help ransom can be detrimental to your business and your ability to continue business-as-usual. That’s why you should regularly backup your data. In the case it is stolen or lost, you’ll have a place to access it.
Save backups of your data to an outside hard drive or use a cloud-based technology.
Use Encryption
Encryption scrambles the information stored in a code so that others can’t access it. It makes your data useless to anybody accessing it from outside.
Most operating systems have a standard encryption tool and only need to be switched on. They encrypt all the files saved on any given device.
However, encryption only activates when a user is logged out. If an employee were to leave their computer logged in, a hacker could access files in a matter of minutes.
Circumvent this by having devices automatically log out when not in use and use strong and unique passwords that aren’t easy to guess.
Pay for an Antivirus
Viruses can destroy or prevent access to large amounts of data. They can also break through your security systems and allow outsiders access to your entire system.
Microsoft has a default firewall that just needs to be activated. But that’s a pretty basic line of defense. Instead, invest in an advanced antivirus or antimalware program.
These programs will protect your data and scan your system regularly for any issues. Be sure to make the required updates on your software so that you’re protected from any vulnerabilities.
Do Background Checks on Employees
The biggest threat to the security of your information may be inside your company.
In a 2016 study, Cyber Security Intelligence determined that 60% of cyber attacks were the result of an insider and 75% did so with malicious intent. Perform background checks on all employees to ensure you know who you’re hiring and that they can be trusted with your data.
Secure Your Hardware
Data isn’t always stolen through online attacks and hackers that access your information remotely. Physical electronic equipment that stores data can also be stolen.
Your servers should be secured and locked down in rooms with locked doors. Consider installing alarms and locks to ensure that your physical hardware is safe. Alarm Liquidators provides touchpad entry locks that can be used to secure the entrances to rooms holding important equipment.
Are You Protected Against Cyber Attacks?
Check out our blog that regularly provides trends in cybersecurity. We offer advice on how to keep yourself protected against cyber attacks among other tips for tech.
