Digital working environments have been a boon to small businesses. The ability to work in a shared digital space has enabled teams of all sizes to remain collaborative even if their members are far apart. Truly, digital technology and global networks are changing the way people live and work.
This high level of interconnectedness, however, has its drawbacks. Unscrupulous individuals and organizations are abound even in digital spaces, and they’re making an effort to infiltrate businesses using digital channels in order to steal or alter company data. How can you protect your small business from these attacks? Here are some tried and tested strategies that will control your risk for cyberattacks:
Make Sure Your Network and Infrastructure Is Protected
Small businesses often have a limited budget for cybersecurity technologies, and many business owners seem to think that the size of their operations will not attract cybercriminals. Unfortunately, the contrary is true: small businesses are particularly vulnerable to these cyberattacks. According to reports, businesses of this size are three times more likely than large companies to be targeted by cybercriminals.
The good news is that your security budget shouldn’t prevent you from investing in high-tech security features for your digital assets, as you can opt to deploy a free cybersecurity solution for small business. If you find that the free service is satisfactory, perhaps you can check out if there’s a premium version that you can budget for in the future. This way, you can effectively beef up your digital security without spending more than you should.
But what exactly should you look for when choosing the best cybersecurity option for your business? At a minimum, your choice of solution should protect your data at multiple layers, from the user with 2 factor authentication to zero trust network access (ZTNA) and all the way to database access, monitoring, and operations limitations.
Update the Technology You Use for Your Business
Updating the systems that you use in your workplace is also an important step in preventing unauthorized entities from accessing your small business’s data and taking advantage of your digital resources. Aside from fixing bugs and errors, software updates include security improvements that address vulnerabilities in the previous version of the application.
In short, updating your computer, phone, or other digital devices means that cybercriminals will no longer have the previous software version’s security weaknesses to take advantage of, thwarting their attempts to get into your system. This, in turn, can prevent them from holding your data for ransom or altering and stealing proprietary information from your company.
Train Your Staff to Recognize Signs of Cyberattacks
Humans are prone to error, and there’s no shortage of cybercriminals who try to get into a digital system by setting up traps for the said system’s human users. It’s a must, then, to educate your staff members on how they can be targeted by cybercriminals and how they can protect themselves from such attacks.
Your small business can start by discussing phishing attacks. You can give your staff members practical examples of phishing attacks and key takeaways so they can easily identify a phishing attack. This includes how cybercriminals appear like they’re a part of the company so that they can solicit system access, money, or information from well-meaning members of the team. Then, adopt a protocol indicating what your staff member should do if they realize that someone is trying these strategies on them.
Back-Up and Protect Your Company Information
Backing up your company’s data offers you protection not only against natural calamities and disasters but also against the threat of cybercriminals. More often than not, hackers target your company to cause chaos or solicit money from you. They sometimes do this by holding a company’s data for ransom.
If you have regular backups, then you can limit the impact of such an attack on your business. Rather than paying cybercriminals for the ability to regain your data, you can simply revert to your backup data and continue where you left off with your projects and assignments. This helps ensure that your operations and livelihood will not be disrupted by ill-meaning individuals.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, there’s no foolproof way to prevent cybercriminals from attempting to attack your company. That said, what you can do is improve your security measures by using a data security solution like Mamori.io so that your potential attacker will be deterred from targeting your business. By implementing these basic strategies, you have a better start in protecting your assets and operations and have an easier time setting up your business for growth in the digital age.