Simple steps for making your business more secure

Have you ever considered the fact that your small business might be at risk of being hacked? A new study has shown that 87% of small business owners haven’t considered the fact that their business could be at risk of hacking when this is the case.

The issue is that your small business might be more at risk than you think – did you know that around 50% of all small businesses will, at some point, experience a cyber hack? So you need to look at ways to make your business more secure.

The issue is that for hackers, small businesses are appealing. This is because smaller businesses generally have less security in place, which means that when it comes to how you run your small business, it’s essential that you make your business more secure unless of course, you want to be the next business being hit by hackers.

The issue comes when your business is unprepared for a cyber attack. If you are going to protect your business from hackers and prevent them from stealing sensitive information, in addition to stealing funds, it’s crucial that you are prepared for a cyber attack and take your small business’s security seriously from the get-go.

Did you know that around half of all small businesses that fall foul to a cyber attack end up going out of business within six months? That’s a scary statistic isn’t it, especially when you consider the fact that 50% of all small businesses fail within the first year without the added stress of a cyber attack.

There is good news though, and that is that if you take the time to prepare for this kind of attack and ensure that your business is more secure, then you should be able to limit the amount of damage that is done by a cyber attack, or better yet, prevent it altogether.

For everything that you need to know, have a read of these tips and pieces of advice below.

Take employee training seriously

When it comes to protecting your business from security threats, it’s essential that you take employee training seriously. Because the fact is that your team members are your first defense against hackers, but if you don’t provide them with adequate security training, then you won’t know if they know how to effectively prevent security threats from becoming an issue.

A good step to take is to create a security policy for your business that you expect all team members to follow. It could contain various best practices that you expect your team members to take note of and follow. It’s essential that you include various procedures for keeping sensitive information safe. It’s also vital that this best practice policy contains steps that your team members should follow if a security breach does occur.

Another good step to take is to teach your team members how to create strong and unique passwords for their accounts. It’s essential that there are passwords on every device used in your business premises, from computers and laptops to tablets and smartphones. The stronger these passwords are, the more secure you are.

It could also be worth encouraging your team members to set up two-factor authentification. This two-step sign-in process helps to add an additional layer of security to your business’s security and makes it harder for hackers to gain access to your accounts.

Be smart about storage

It’s essential that when it comes to how your business stores files that you are clued up on the most secure process. Because the fact is that if you and your team members aren’t protecting your sensitive files, then they will be an easy target for hackers. That’s why when it comes to document storage it’s crucial that you take the time to properly manage how you store your business’s documents.

If you don’t feel comfortable dealing with this aspect of running your business yourself, it might be worth taking the time to carefully consider your options. The fact is that you have various options to choose from, it’s just a case of knowing which path is the best fit for you and your business’s specific needs.

Update computers regularly

A common mistake that many people make is failing to regularly update their computers. It’s essential that you regularly update your computers, laptops and any other devices that are being used. It’s essential that you are ensuring that your business’s operating systems are up to date and are able to protect you against threats.

It’s crucial that you have an IT team that are regularly checking for updates to software, which should include security software. Threats are changing all the time, which is why computer software is also changing all the time. Hence why updating regularly is so crucial to preventing cyber attacks.

Ensure you have backups of everything

It’s crucial that you encourage your team members to regularly backup all of their work. As that way if hackers to gain access to your computer systems, and information goes missing, you will have a copy of what information has been taken.

It’s essential that you keep copies of every piece of important information so that you have a record of what has been taken in the event of a cyber attack. For example, while you might store your vendor details on a computer system, you may also keep a copy stored on Dropbox.

The fact is that by taking note of these simple steps you can make your business far more secure. It might take time and effort to get your business up to scratch with these kinds of things, but if you are serious about taking business security seriously, then you should set aside some time to ensure that your business has taken all of the appropriate steps to cover itself when it comes to cybersecurity hackers. It’s worth taking the time and effort to deal with this aspect of your business, as it’s just as important as any other area of running a small business and it’s crucial that you remember that.