Small Business Cyber Security Basics
January 30, 2020
Few topics are more important and more overlooked by small businesses
Some people believe that the only companies that get hacked are major Fortune 500 companies, but the truth is that small businesses are often affected by cyber crime. Small businesses consistently underestimate
the kind of damage that a data breach can do.
Cyber security is only becoming more of a relevant topic in every industry, thanks to the fact that it affects any business with sensitive data, whether it involves intellectual property, consumer data, or otherwise. There’s some good news: there are concrete steps that you can take to ensure that your business, at the very least, meets some kind of cyber security standard.
Training And Culture
One central issue when it comes to small businesses is that they simply don’t believe that cyber security is that important, or consider it an unnecessary cost. Do your employees understand cyber security basics, and are you willing to spend the money to have them trained?
This one step alone can help save a lot of time and money down the line should your business ever suffer from a data breach. If you can help to make cyber security part of your company culture, it can go a long way towards remaining secure or recovering as soon as possible from a breach of any kind.
Limit Access
There isn’t anything wrong with a transparent company culture. However, the truth is that there is some data that simply doesn’t need to be accessed by everyone. You should have some kind of reason to authorize certain employees for specific data, and you might also consider locking up laptops and other devices when necessary. In addition, no one employee should have access to all company-wide data.
Password Management
Believe it or not, weak passwords have been the key to many data breaches and hacks. There is one simple step that can help tremendously with your company’s cyber security, and that would be to require employees to change passwords every three months. This isn’t enough to inconvenience your organization, and allows for a stronger level of protection.
Of course, it’s also important to emphasize to your employees that the passwords themselves should be strong. The best step to take is to implement multi-factor authentication, as well. Of course, it’s also important to hire the best IT staff you can, and interview until you feel comfortable with those that understand the importance of cyber security.
Ultimately, there are steps that can be taken that don’t require much time or effort. If you only change your passwords every two years, it’s time to let employees know that a strong password is necessary, and that you will be changing it more frequently. Of course, you might also consider offering some resources to your employees regarding ways to help keep the company more secure.
Many cyber security issues can be avoided through taking some steps, such as having a clear policy regarding who can access certain data, and when. One data breach can spell doom for certain businesses, and you should do everything in your power to make sure that your employees are aware of how serious these hacks/breaches can be.
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