7 Cybersecurity Tips for Your Small Business

Cybercrime is an issue that every business must face today. Believe it or not, 43% of all cybercrime targets small businesses. That means you can’t afford to take internet crime lightly, no matter how small your business is.

With so much on the line in your business, you can’t afford to expose your business to security risks. Use the seven cybersecurity tips below to shore up your business security protocols.

1. Use Access Control

Does everyone in your organization have access to all your files? While that may not be a problem in most situations, it’s a big problem if an employee’s computer becomes compromised.

Since everyone on your team can see everything, a hacker will also have that information. There’s no reason for each employee to have access to all your data, so put limits in place that controls access to data.

You have some protection when you go this route. A hacker can only see what a compromised employee can see, limiting the damage that occurs because of a data breach.

2. Implement Two-Factor Authentication

Strong passwords are the bare minimum for securing your online accounts. Unfortunately, they aren’t always enough. Hackers have created new methods to get past password authentication and steal passwords.

However, stealing a password means nothing if you have two-factor authentication on your accounts. When you do, the person logging into an account will get a secondary code sent to another device. Without that device, a hacker with a stolen password can’t access your accounts.

You can set this up using several methods. Here are the ones for you to consider:

• Email
• Text message
• Authentication application
• Hardware key

3. Encrypt Your Data

The chances are good that you don’t need all your data daily. You work on a limited amount of information. The problem is that anyone who can access your systems can see everything you aren’t using if you don’t have protection.

Encrypting your data will give you some level of security. Encrypt all the data on your servers when it isn’t in use. Nobody can see the business data if you don’t have a decryption key.

However, you can still use software to access the data if it allows you to decrypt files. This will allow your team to use your data without hassle and protect data at the same time.

4. Invest in Anti-Malware

No matter how much work you put into protecting your computer systems, people will still make mistakes. One of the biggest mistakes people make is downloading malicious files and opening them on their computers.

They do this because hackers disguise malware as email attachments and legitimate software on the internet. When a victim opens one of those files, it installs malware on the computer.

You can prevent this problem by installing anti-malware on all your systems. This software will scan all file downloads and delete anything that looks like malware.

5. Use VPN Services

Unsecure computer systems are a growing concern for all businesses. As many employees begin to work remotely, you have to worry about the location they use the internet.

That’s because hackers disguise WiFi hotspots in public. They go to a popular location and set up an internet access point that appears to be from a legitimate company. Once someone connects to that hotspot, a hacker can monitor all traffic coming and going from a device.

A VPN can protect your employees in these situations. Your VPN service will set up an encrypted tunnel to another server. As a result, anyone looking at your employees’ internet traffic will only see gibberish and be unable to steal data.

6. Create a Backup Schedule

Your data is never completely safe in a secure environment. Even if you do everything possible to prevent hackers from gaining access, you’re still at risk of equipment and software failure. If that happens, you run the risk of losing data.

Data backups are the solution to this problem. A data backup will store your information in an off-site location. Companies can use physical storage devices or cloud backup solutions.

Ideally, you’ll back up your data on a schedule to ensure you have recent copies of everything. Most companies stick with cloud services since it’s the easiest way to get things done. All you need to do is log into your cloud backup provider and click a few buttons to restore your files.

7. Purchase a Security Audit

It only takes a single mistake to comprise a computer network. It can be because of a configuration issue, employee error, or anything else. Unfortunately, even experts will make these mistakes at times.

That’s why it pays to get a second look at your computer systems. You can hire a security expert from an IT support services company to audit your current setup.

Your security auditor will look through all your systems to look for vulnerabilities. Once complete, they will prepare a report that details everything you need to take care of on your network to secure it. You can hire the company performing the audit to help with the process or send the report to your team to handle.

Don’t Wait to Put These Cybersecurity Tips Into Place

Cybercrime is a problem that isn’t going to disappear in business. Hackers will always look for a way to breach company security and compromise sensitive information.

Because of that, you can’t afford to take online security lightly. Follow the cybersecurity tips above and continue optimizing your security system to ensure your business stays protected against online attacks.

Head back to the blog to read more articles that will help you get the most from IT in your business.