Perhaps the biggest concern for small businesses that has been somewhat neglected in recent years is cybersecurity. With so many potential security threats looming over your business, a strong cybersecurity defense is absolutely essential.
But many entrepreneurs and executives fail to recognize the importance of this, or else they fall prey to some common cybersecurity pitfalls. In this article, we’ll look at just a few of these pitfalls, so you can become aware of them and overcome them in your own business.
Using Break/Fix IT Services
In the past, many businesses turned to break/fix solutions as a cheap fix for IT problems. But with greater reliance on technology and an increase in cyber threats, this strategy is no longer viable—not to mention, it could end up costing you much more than you intended.
For one thing, break/fix solutions are rarely long term, meaning you could be spending more money than necessary to fix issues that are preventable. More importantly, you are simply allowing your systems to worsen over time by not proactively monitoring them to eliminate security threats.
A much better response to the wide range of cybersecurity threats is to invest in managed cybersecurity services. With this kind of managed service, your team of experts provides round-the-clock monitoring and support to ensure that vulnerabilities are detected and patched immediately, well before hackers can take advantage. This approach offers much more viable, long-term solutions.
Not Taking Cyber Threats Seriously
Another common pitfall that many small businesses fall into is simply not taking cyber threats seriously. If you don’t know the risk your systems face, it can be easy to think that there is nothing to worry about, or to think that because you are a small business, you’re not a target.
In reality, 71% of security breaches occur in small businesses. With threats like ransomware, phishing, spyware, and much more, you really do need to be on your guard at all times in order to care for your business more effectively. By investing in more robust cybersecurity planning and regular risk assessments of your infrastructure, you can void this common pitfall.
Failing to Update Cybersecurity Plans
To properly defend against cyber attacks, you also need to make sure that your plans to address threats are constantly being updated.
As technology gets smarter, so do hackers, so by performing constant updates, upgrades, and assessments, you can more proactively prepare for the latest attacks. Whether it’s using GEO-IP filtering at the firewall level, VPN for remote access, or anonymizers, you need to ensure you are constantly adding layers to your security architecture.
Neglecting Your Cybersecurity Budget
As with anything else in the world of business, you have to spend money to make money. Luckily, cybersecurity is more of an investment than an expense and can save your business hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run.
Cybersecurity should therefore be a well-thought-out part of your budget, and if it isn’t, this is one of the first things that you are going to want to change. You don’t need to allocate outrageous funds to IT in order to protect your systems; Managed Service Providers often offer affordable support packages that allow you to get the security you need without breaking the bank.
As you avoid these cybersecurity pitfalls, your business can be better prepared to defend against attacks. This is hugely beneficial in maintaining customer loyalty, keeping downtime and associated costs to a minimum, and protecting sensitive data.