Cyber Security Tips for Small Businesses and their Employees

The news lately seems full of scary stories about big security breaches, which are causing a lot of concern among small businesses owners. One fear is that if these large-scale nationwide companies were vulnerable to attack, what chance do smaller companies have to defend themselves against future attacks?

Actually, being smaller and being prepared can a long way in making it difficult to be hacked.

Cybercrime is now considered the fastest growing type of crime in the U.S., and global financial losses from breaches are projected to exceed $1 trillion in the next decade. But the size of some of the attacked multi-national companies may have worked against them, and made them look especially attractive to hackers as a potential payday.

Hackers may target smaller companies as well, simply because many don’t install defenses, thinking they won’t be targets. However, adding extra internal and external defenses can go a long way toward encouraging hackers to try someone else.

To boost your defenses, try these strategies:

1. Focus on employee training. Though it’s easy to fear outside intruders, employees can easily let intruders into a network on purpose or by accident, such as clicking on the wrong link, downloading something they weren’t supposed to, or even uploading the contents of an infected thumb drive. Training can include being aware of common phishing attempts.
2. Create security levels. Your IT/security team can give everyone different privileges for different areas of your network, so the most restricted data is difficult for anyone to reach. This also can flag if someone unauthorized tries to reach a level they aren’t supposed to.
3. Perform regular updates. Make sure all desktops and company-owned phones download required security anti-virus/malware updates, which usually patch current security holes. Failure to do so increases the risk of someone trying to exploit these flaws.
4. Define BYOD rules. Some employees prefer to Bring their Own mobile Device for work rather than use a company one. This can create security risks if the phone is ever lost, stolen or misplaced. People who want to try BYOD should be required to make sure their phone locks when not in use.
5. Practice. Being prepared means having and testing plans for a cyber-attack, malware infection or ransomware. Simulate these types of conditions and measure people’s responses.

 
Overall, recent cyber breaches should convince security professionals to take extra precautions for their employees and their machinery.