I know that as a business person, one of your major concerns is how to make your business immune to exposure from cyber crime and its effects. Your fears are well-founded considering the increasing cases of cyber crimes, with many entrepreneurs forced out of business due to this nefarious act.
I want to give you some awesome and proven tips that will help you ward off cyber attacks from your business. Like I said, these tips are proven, which means that they work.
Here are a few of those tips:
1.Hype Up Your Security Consciousness
This is an ironic statement, but your employees could be the biggest threat to your business. While they may not be directly involved in the crime, they are usually the door through which hackers have access to your information.
For instance, when employees use poor passwords on their files or computers, they make their computers sitting ducks for hackers. Within a few minutes, the computers can be hacked.
To prevent this, train your employees to make security their watchword. They can achieve this by using longer or more complex passwords. The rule of thumb is that passwords should be long and include uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Hackers usually find such passwords difficult to break. In addition, passwords should never be reused for multiple accounts.
Getting a security expert to train your staff just may be worth budgeting for as well.
2.Protect Your Computers
In addition to your migrating to cloud computing you need to give your computer systems the best protection available. How? Take these few steps to fortify them:
•Install antivirus programs on your computers
Viruses may break the immunity of your computers, making them vulnerable to external attacks. It is advisable to install latest antivirus programs on your computers and to keep them regularly updated.
•Install firewalls
Firewalls are to a computer what a security officer is to a building. They are specially designed to serve as the sentry to your network. Installing powerful firewalls on your systems gives cyber criminals a good reason to let you be.
•Upgrade your Operating System
The Operating System on your computers controls all the activities on those systems, including your private and sensitive information.
Software developers take the security of their users into consideration when developing Operating Systems. Latest versions are always equipped with the most potent protection against cyber attacks. Upgrading your Operating System then becomes an automatic protection for your business against invasion.
3.Be Prepared For Invasion
If you implement the suggestions above, your business is well protected and safe. However, you should always prepare for the big "What if...?" what if hackers detect a loophole in your system and capitalize on it? You should be prepared for such invasion by doing these:
•Install intrusion detection
A good intrusion detection tool will notify you immediately your system is breached. After installing it, make it mandatory for each employee to monitor his or her systems with for signs of intrusion
•Back-up your information regularly
The safety of your business is more guaranteed if you regularly back up your information. You should back up your files, data, and other resources that are the backbones of your business.
You can always turn to the backed up files in case of data loss through the invasion.
4.Restrict Access To Sensitive Information
Making all the sensitive information about your business accessible to every Tom, Dick, and Harry is a good recipe for vulnerability. It is not wise to not know who accessed what and when.
More so, if few people have access to such important information, it will reduce the chances of exposure to unauthorized individuals with evil intent. Restrict access to such sensitive information to the few people who have a business need to access it.
5.Hire a Security Expert
You may find it difficult to find out if your business is vulnerable to attacks if you're not experienced in assessing cybersecurity risks. Having a security expert on your payroll will cover up your inadequacies here.
His job is to routinely check your systems for potential risks and prevent them. As a business expands in its operations, it creates greater loopholes for access. In case of intrusion, an expert, will use his expertise to mitigate the damages.
"Cybersecurity has become a business issue, not just an IT concern," said Chris Heim, CEO of HelpSystems. Working with an expert means security gets the regular attention it requires. An experienced professional can identify risks and close security gaps before problems materialize. Compared to the cost of a data breach, hiring a security expert is a sound investment that will keep your business on the right track.
As I earlier said, these tips are well-tested and have made the difference between victims to cyber attacks and those who have run a safe business for many years. Security investments are cardinal in the 21st century. So, fortify your business against such insidious attacks by implementing these tips. If you do this, your business will be safe, and you will be stress-free.