Many small businesses think that they are too insignificant to warrant attention from any cyber threats. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth, as most cyber attacks happen to small and medium-sized businesses.
According to Yahoo Finance, nearly 80% of senior IT and IT security leaders believe their organizations lack sufficient protection against cyberattacks. Thankfully, there are easy ways to secure your business data and keep it safe from hackers. Read on to learn how:
Partner with an IT Company
The most knowledgeable IT companies know the importance of making critical upgrades, replacing equipment, and handling sensitive data situations. IT companies provide a range of services such as network security, cloud-based solutions, software support, VoIP service, and computer repairs.
While partnering with an IT company can be a regular expense, it can also help you avoid expensive problems from occurring due to a lack of knowledge or oversight.
Enable Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication is a security measure that requires a user to provide two forms of verification to gain access to an account or online product. Traditional authentication like a simple username and password are no longer sufficient to protect against cyber attacks and hacking.
“The most recent usage statistics for two-factor authentication show a low number of small and large businesses using multi-factor authentication tools. Since companies are now more likely to be targeted by cybercriminals, every layer of additional protection matters.” (Source: DataProt)
Use strong passwords and change them regularly
Even with multi-factor authentication in use, strong passwords are essential for data security. With password apps like 1Password, you can quickly generate complex passwords and then safely store them in the app for easy reference.
It’s also important to regularly update your password and to limit the use of passwords for more than one account.
Limit access to sensitive data
Limiting access to sensitive data is a significant component of having a secure operation. Educate employees on the importance of not sharing sensitive information, keeping passwords in a safe and secure location, logging out of computers when done with their work, and keeping printed information in a secure and locked file system.
It’s also helpful to keep a list of employees who have access to sensitive data and ensure that access is removed promptly when an employee is no longer with your company.
Regularly backup your data
Data backup is crucial for protecting your company’s continuity. If all of your data is housed on a single computer or laptop and those items are stolen or hacked, your information is at serious risk.
Once you’ve identified the data that needs to be backed up, you’ll want to perform an initial backup and then schedule regular backups as well. Using online cloud solutions makes data backups easy, but you can also consider using external hard drives, local computers off-site, or a combination of all of these.
Keep everything updated
Software updates are essential to your digital safety and cybersecurity. These updates might include repairing security features that have been upgraded or fixing bugs that could harm the way your software runs.
While software updates can feel cumbersome and annoying at times, they are designed to help keep your data protected and worth a few minutes of downtime to protect your information in the long run.
As more sophisticated technology evolves, it will be essential for small businesses to invest in security measures that protect their data and that of their employees and customers. No single solution can guarantee protection against hackers, cyberattacks, or other data catastrophes.
However, when a combination of these strategies is used together, the chances of a major data breach can be significantly reduced.