Six Simple Ways to Improve Your Cybersecurity
Every business today has to think about cybersecurity.Unless you run your business entirely on paper, cash, and the U.S. Postal Service. It can be vulnerable to hackers.
The size of the company does not guarantee security. Big businesses are in the news of cyber attack, but most cyber attacks target small and medium-sized businesses.
Why?
Many SMB owners don't think they need to worry about cybersecurity.
Good news?
Don't worry if your computer is barely usable. It's surprisingly simple, easy, and quick to take a few steps that prevent obvious cybersecurity solutions vulnerabilities in your organization.
I'm not saying these steps are all you need to keep your data safe, but it's a good place to start.
Check out this video we created to explain the severity of cybersecurity threats. This is the sneak peak:
- 55% of small businesses have experienced cyber attacks
- 3.8 million company records are stolen every day
Then continue reading 6 quick steps you can take to avoid showing different statistics.
Step 1 - Make A Plan
This is the most important step. Recognize that cybersecurity and information security pose real threats to your business and plan accordingly.
We'll talk more about creating security plans and infrastructures for your business in future posts. The first important step, however, is to understand and understand what you need.
Use two-step authentication
Step 2 - Use the
two-step verification
Two-step verification prevents hackers from accessing your personal or work accounts, even if they steal your password. Two-factor authentication essentially involves entering a password and then performing another authentication action.
Typically, when you enter your password, a text message is sent to the phone number programmed by the two-step verification system. This text message contains a unique, randomly generated code that you enter to continue.
The two-step authentication process has become the standard for most major software services such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple. The installation takes 1 minute and the usage time is shorter than expected. It also thwarts the most common and optimistic cyber attacks. The two-step certification process is one of the best ways to avoid problems with valuable work.
Back up all of your data
Step 3 - Back up your
data
Every business needs a good implementation plan and strategy for data protection. Why?
What happens to my office or business if I lose access to business information for a day? What if a ransomware attack erases all data?
If you keep all of your data in one place, you run the risk of losing it all if that place goes down or is hacked. A backup is a digital copy of the original data that will be used to restore work in the event of a disaster. If you lose your data, you have a backup. Most modern software programs have the ability to automatically back up the specified data. However, you can copy document by document if you want or if you just want to back up some of the data. ..
After creating a backup, it is important to save the created data either on the flash drive or on the external hard drive. Do not save the backup to the same data storage device as the original copy. The purpose of the backup is canceled. If you save everything on another hard drive and your hard drive fails and you can't get all of the data, you're out of luck.
For more information on backing up your data, see the "Preventing Document Loss - What You Need to Know About Backing Up" article.
Keep your antivirus software up to date
Step 4 - Keep the
antivirus software up to date
Everyone likes to complain about computer slowdowns due to constant antivirus software updates, but for good reason. Antivirus software developers fix structural weaknesses based on the data gathered through usage, add new features to combat the common progression of viruses, and generally improve antivirus efficiency. Therefore it has to be updated constantly.
First of all, your company should definitely have antivirus technology in place. Do your research to find the one that fits your size and needs, or ask an expert for help. After installing the software, set up automatic updates and make sure they run. If you don't update your antivirus software regularly, it will be ineffective and you could be vulnerable to cyberattacks.
For businesses, one of the great things about managed network services is having someone else manage the antivirus updates. This means that there are no loopholes in the firewall, so IT staff can spend more time on more valuable tasks like improving business processes.
Step 5 - Don't ignore
physical security
With an ongoing focus on cybersecurity, it's easy to overlook simple physical security risks that are easy to avoid. In addition to physical access restrictions (e.g. locking the door to the server room), there are four common physical security breaches.
- The password you wrote down
- Whiteboard
- Confidential documents published
- Easy access to the access card
- Learn more about these risks and precautions.
- Educate employees about the importance of intelligent web navigation
Step 6 - Educate
employees on the importance of smart web navigation
This is probably the most important thing you can do for cybersecurity. Most employees probably don't think too much about how they're putting the company's cybersecurity at risk.
It is not good.
Allow time to talk about the basics every employee should do to protect the company's data. Make sure all employees know:
- Never share a password
- Use two-step validation for work computer login and all associated login for enterprise software
- Change your password at least every three months
- Don't open unexpected emails from strangers
- In particular, do not open emails with unexpected attachments. Even if a coworker sent the attachment, make sure you actually sent it before you download it.
- Back up all of your work. Store the backup on a different data storage device than the original backup.
- In many cases, data is backed up whenever possible.
- Update the virus software.
- Stay away from potentially dangerous places. Always pay attention to the warning.
- Don't stream or upload anything onto your work computer unless you are certain the source is legitimate and safe.
- Avoid unsecured websites whenever possible.
- Turn off your work computer before you leave at the end of the day.
- Know where your data is stored. If data is misplaced or missing, please report this immediately.
- Do not give your company's hardware or software to anyone.
In the modern era of small business ownership, cybersecurity needs to be just as normal and routine as regular security. Making a habit of thinking about it now can save you a lot of stress and heartache in the future.
Do you have further questions about IT? Make an appointment with Coordinated and talk about a complete IT management service. We can get technical stuff done so you can get back to what you do best and run your business.
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