How to Protect Your Small Business From Cyber Attacks

Businesses today can’t protect their assets only with a state-of-the-art safe, installing a secure lock on their doors, or hiring on-site security. Most businesses nowadays are susceptible to cyberattacks, even if they aren’t running things entirely online. And since they don’t have the resources of big corporations, small businesses are especially vulnerable.

In this article, we’ll provide you with a few tips on how to protect your small business from cyber-attacks.

Prepare for the Worst

One unpleasant truth you need to keep in mind when running a business is that, even though there are many measures you can take to protect your data, unfortunately, none is indestructible. This is why you need to have an action and contingency plan in case a cyberattack ever happens. Preparation will give you chance to take control and resume your operations soon, hopefully protecting you from losing clients or worse.

Instead of simply covering what is required by law it’s recommendable for businesses to get an all-encompassing insurance policy adapted to their specific needs. For example, if you have a construction company you can get contractors insurance, which includes general liability, commercial property insurance, tools and equipment insurance, and so on. However, you should also have a disaster recovery plan in place – and if you determine that a cyberattack could harm your business, you should make sure that cyber-attacks are covered.

Back-Up Your Data

Think about what could happen with your business if all of a sudden you lost everything stored on your devices. You may lose important documents, plans, projects, important information on your operations and your clients, and so much more. This is why you need to make sure that you can respond quickly and efficiently in the event of an incident, whether it’s an attack or a malfunction. And one way to make this possible is to start backing up important data regularly.

Having all of your data safely stored on a device or the cloud can save your business. Back-ups are crucial for any business, regardless of the industry or its size. There are many methods you can use, including a simple USB stick or an external hard drive, portable devices kept offsite, or cloud storage. You should also make sure that your data is encrypted when you store it online.

Protect Your Devices and Your Network

The first line of defense against theft, tampering, or any other risk to your data, is to use strong, secure passwords – that is passwords that aren’t easy to guess. Revise all of your passwords – for your email, your network, your hosting, the programs you use in the cloud, etc. For even more security, you should use multi-factor authentication.

One of the key steps you should take to minimize the risk of a cyber incident is to make sure that all of the devices that you use for work are protected from infections and attacks, by a firewall and security software, including spam filters, antivirus, antispyware, etc. Moreover, keep your backed-up data in a secure space, such as portable devices or a trustworthy cloud hosting provider.

You should also always keep your software up to date. Updates fix flaws and often contain important security upgrades that may protect you against recent attacks or viruses. The best way to be sure that you continuously get the latest updates is to allow your security software and your operating system to update automatically. You can also schedule updates at a time that’s convenient for you, like after business hours.

Train Your Employees

Each employee should know how they can protect your business data, and what they can do to stay safe online. They should know what they can share and use. Using secure passwords, changing them regularly, encrypting data, what to do in case they encounter a threat, how to report it, and so on.

Use Professionals and Outside Help

Having an IT department is a great way to deal with cyber security. If you don’t have a professional on your team, you should hire reliable cyber security professionals. Both of these options can help you prevent attacks or react promptly and appropriately if one occurs.

Conclusion

Businesses across industries handle many things online, so they have to invest in cyber security. It’s simple, if you are using your computer for any part of your job, you need to protect yourself against possible cyber incidents.

While some of the steps you should take are simple and you can do them yourself, others may be more complicated and might require expert knowledge. Most importantly, aside from taking measures to prevent attacks, you should also be prepared in case it occurs, and get the right insurance and the right people to make sure you could resume work rapidly.