Cybersecurity is crucial for small businesses. Being that so many businesses today are dependent on the technological assets and tools which allow them to do things like run day to day operations, interact with customers or clients, and safeguard ideas, trying to run a business without it is unwise. Simply put, cyber security is a necessary form of multi-level steps that help to protect businesses sensitive data from cyber threats. There is so much sensitive data that has been streamlined and required for business and other companies to interact with each other like customers’ personal information, financial records, as well as internal and external communications.
Additionally, it safeguards against cyber-attacks that could disrupt operations and damage the company’s reputation. By investing in cybersecurity measures, small businesses can mitigate risks and ensure the safety of their digital assets not only of their own business but of their customers and clients. Without proper measures, businesses risk financial losses and reputational damage.
By implementing cybersecurity measures can prevent data breaches and ensure business continuity across multiple platforms, tools, teams, and working technology. These steps have become a high priority in many situations, but outright required in others so the investment is essential for the long-term success and sustainability of small businesses in the digital age.
Though there are plenty of differences that can be made between one business or another, one industry or another, the principles are the same and, because of the commonality of digital communication or engagement, the rules for cyber security maintain themselves at any level or industry. Small businesses may think that they are at lower risk because they may not have access to as much money or certain types of information and data, but the opposite is actually true: smaller businesses are typically at greater risk of cyber-attacks because they typically don’t have the financial capital to easily invest in the teams or software needed to properly protect and combat cyber-attacks.
Without those steps taken, every party becomes at risk. Therefore, any small business that has yet to implement strong defensive tactics may want to seriously rethink their current stance or position— especially if they are in the growth phase like a social-media campaign.
Here are some important cybersecurity steps to follow in a small business generally speaking, as well as before activating an expensive social media campaign.
Essential Cybersecurity Steps for Businesses
Creating Risk Assessment Procedures
The process and action of conducting a security risk assessment is a crucial component in diligent cybersecurity enforcement. Doing so helps identify vulnerabilities, prioritize risks, and develop strategies to mitigate potential threats that may not have been known beforehand.
By evaluating the security posture of an organization, ideally, all weaknesses can be found, identified, and then proactively mitigated by enhancing overall protection against cyber-attacks. Risk Assessment procedures can be developed in a variety of styles and ways of implementation but generally speaking there is a fairly consistent order that should be followed when doing so:
- Identifying whatever assets the company has, both internally and externally, that can include anything from hardware, software, accessible data, networks, or personnel.
- Once a list of assets has been made, the next step should be to become clear about what potential threats or weaknesses might be exploited through malware, phishing scams, sabotage, or real-world disasters.
- After the assessment of vulnerabilities and their potential risk factors developing strategies and procedures to help protect against cyber-attacks is the main point of action. By reviewing, researching, and choosing which technology or practices should be invested in the company is much safer and can then move on to the final step: monitorization and review.
Proper Employee Training and Awareness
Understanding the role of employees in maintaining a secure environment is an essential component in effective cyber security— especially during a lengthy and important social media video campaign. No matter how advanced a cybersecurity system, its tools or systems are, they will only be as strong or consistent as the people needing to use them daily. This is why proper employee training and awareness are essential components of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy.
Cybercriminals cleverly can target individuals or groups through a whole host of tactics that have been refined over the decades. Without the proper training and awareness, unaware or ignorant employees can accidentally put their company and the people they serve at risk.
Setting Up Secure Networks
Setting up a secure network by which to host and operate a small business is an important step in cyber security tactics. There are a collection of different ways to do so and steps to follow, but ideally multiple will be done.
- Creating and using strong password requirements and systems that regularly update the multi-level authentication steps and making sure that team members are aware of how not to create simple, and easily predictable passwords.
- Encrypting your network traffic is an essential step in working to protect a company’s data from being stolen by cyber attackers. The use of WPA2 or WPA3 encryption protocols should certainly be considered for any Wi-Fi network, while making sure that any and all devices connected or might need to connect to the network are using their own high encryption standards.
- Firewalls act as a barrier between active networks, users, and any potential threats. Proper cybersecurity goes through the regular process of making sure that the firewall on any routers are configured to block all potential unauthorized access. Another thing to consider is the use of network firewall software on all devices. This is an added layer of protection that can bring an extra peace of mind.
Regularly Updating Software and Operating Systems
No matter the system, software, hardware, or company, regularly updating your software, operating systems, and firmware is crucial to defending security vulnerabilities that might be used. By enabling automatic updates on all devices connected to the host network and seeing to it that employees are always running the latest security updates will add another layer of protection.
About the Author
Ryan Ayers is a researcher and consultant within multiple industries including information technology, blockchain and business development. Always up for a challenge, Ayers enjoys working with startups as well as Fortune 500 companies. When not at work, Ayers loves reading science fiction novels and watching the LA Clippers.
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