In this day and age, the biggest threat to any firm or even person is an online attack. Whether it is stolen identity, stolen intellectual property, hijacking of servers, or stealing company secrets through corporate espionage; cybersecurity has quickly advanced to the forefront of every person’s mind. Even though you may be thinking that you and your business is completely secure, it can never hurt to have a regular once-over of your security proceedings. After all, it is much better to be cyber safe, than sorry.
1: Train your Employees to be Cyber Security Conscious –
As Rebecca Keyte, a business writer at 1 Day 2 Write and Writemyx said, “Training your employees to be actively cyber conscious is crucial to your business keeping itself safe from attack. If your employees are lax with who they communicate things such as opening hours or blind spots to or write down passwords and leave them around; you could be leaving your business open to attack.” Cyber conscious employees are better employees.
2: Install Anti-Virus and Cyber Security Software –
You may think that the data you store would not be a target for cyber-attack, but I guarantee you that if it is there to be stolen, someone will steal it. Installing anti-virus software onto your servers may cost a little to implement, but it is much cheaper than the issues that could stem from someone getting into your systems.
3: Use a Firewall –
Similar to installing anti-virus software in your offices, installing a firewall makes it that much harder for a cyber-criminal to steal something from you. Do not make it easy for them to get into your system; they will be less likely to try if it is going to cause them a hassle.
4: Keep your Software Up to Date –
Think about the last time you put off a software update on your computer or phone…we do it all the time right? As Richard Delaney, a web developer at Brit Student and Next Coursework said, “It is so incredibly crucial to always keep your software up to date. Yes, it can be a pain and take a long time…but the majority of the updates will have increased cybersecurity. Allowing your firm’s devices to get out of date in software is extremely dangerous.”
5: Ensure your Data is Regularly Backed up:
As a business, you have control of and access to a large amount of data, a vast majority of which will be crucial to your operation. Ensure that your data is backed up both offsite and onsite. This will mean that in case of cyber attack you will still have access to all of your data, uncorrupted by the breach.
6: Control Physical Access to Your Firm –
Controlling physical access to your firm through security, locks, passwords, and CCTV will allow you to restrict the number of people who have access to your business, and make it easier to investigate a breach if it was ever to occur.
7: Secure and Password Protect your Wi-Fi Networks –
Though open WIFI networks may be easy to use and simpler, they are extremely unsafe and easy to hack. Ensure that your company internet connection is stable, secure, and password protected.
8: Create Employee Specific User Accounts –
This is crucial if your company were ever to have a breach, as employee-specific accounts would be able to help you to pinpoint where the breach occurred in the first place.
9: Limit and Restrict Employee Access to Data –
An easy way to protect your most important data is to only allow access to sensitive data to the people who need it to actually do their job. For example, the front desk secretary who answers the phones will not need access to the pin code for your company’s direct account at the bank, will they?
10: Constantly Change and Update Passwords –
Simple and elementary? Yes. But vital, nonetheless. I would advise changing your passwords at least once every three months, potentially more. Passwords are the frontline of protection against unwanted visitors into your networks.
Hopefully, the ten top tips I have detailed here will allow you to make sure that your business and the data it protects is safe against the imminent threat of cyber-attacks. As noted earlier, it was much better to be cyber safe, than sorry.
