Even though it happens all the time, data breaches have become normalized in our tech-forward culture, and that’s a problem. Did you know that more than 70% of small businesses lack an IT security professional on staff? In fact, most of the businesses being hacked right now are small. These are businesses that may have online stores and transactions, but they aren’t able to provide next-level cyber security for small business budgets.
So what’s to stop a hacker from targeting your small business? If you don’t know what type of cyber security is in place for your business, you could already be in trouble. Here’s a few areas to get started:
Set Up Password Protection
This is the first step to ensuring that your computer network at the office is secure. Strong passwords are a must for you and your employees. You want to make sure that passwords are not shared, and that co-workers don’t have access to each other’s computers or important department network files.
Limit Access
Speaking of access problems, you really want to hire an IT professional or consultant to help you set up key access points and security. Only certain people should have access to customer files, for example. You can add passwords, encryption, and login fail-safes to ensure that access is only granted when it’s the right person.
Monitor Employee Devices
You may not think it’s right to peep into an employee’s device, but what if that employee is doing something nefarious or just plain wasting your time? In addition, as a small business, you may not be able to provide company laptops, tablets, and phones. However, you can use software that sets up an encrypted VPN connection, allowing your employees to work on a secure network within their personal computer.
You also want to have policies in place that monitor devices that are company owned. You’ll need to install monitoring software, automatic security updates, and require password. While monitoring isn’t always necessary, it can help prevent unsuspecting employees from getting viruses off of websites that should be blocked on the office network.
Cyber Security Planning
Do you have the right software in place to prevent a DDoS attack? Cyber security for small business should require a plan like this that outlines what attacks your site is currently able to prevent and what it’s vulnerable to. This is a great place to start because it will break down your website with a cyber security audit, and then look for areas where you are weak. In most causes, small businesses can hire a developer to come in and assess the site for issues, possibly even hacking your website to show you what vulnerabilities are lurking in your code.
Update Your Site
If you have an older WordPress site that hasn’t been updated in awhile like a lot of small businesses, then you’re definitely putting yourself in harm’s way. You should update your website regularly to have the latest security definitions in place and to prevent simple spider attacks that look for older code to attack.
Add Captcha and Verification to Forms
This is a good way to prevent spam and other hackers from getting into your system. You can install these on your site to ask questions that prove a person is a human. Many hackers crawl website forms just for this vulnerability.
In addition to ensuring your workplace devices are secure, it’s also important to make sure any third party tools you use are also secure. For example, if you use a time clock app to track employee time, you need to make sure the solution has security measures in place to keep important information from being access by unauthorized users.
