If you are a small organization, do you find yourself not really worrying about cyber threats? After all, aren’t major attacks more geared toward the bigger and more profitable companies? Unfortunately, that just isn’t the case. In fact, it’s pretty far from the truth since both large and small businesses have valuable information to steal.

Ask yourself what would be the most devastating information that online criminals could access? If you thought about your bank account information, employee and customer data, financial details, and other intellectual property – you hit the nail on the head! Cyber criminals go after your critical assets, so make a list of what yours are. Once you have your list of critical assets, it’s time to start making some risk-based decisions.

As small business owners, it’s your responsibility to protect your business, employees, and assets with some simple strategies leveraged from The U.S. Small Business Administration’s “Top Ten Cybersecurity Tips,” outlined below.

Arm your business against viruses, spyware, and other malicious code.

All computers in your organization need to have constantly-updated antispyware/antivirus software. To save time and improve functionality when updates become available, make sure software is configured to install these upgrades automatically.

When you encrypt information and utilize firewalls, you are safeguarding your Internet connection. You can also go off the radar by hiding your Wi-Fi network and safeguarding your router with password protection.

The best way to bulletproof your company is with the help of your employees. Define and distribute specific security policies to protect your most important information, and provide consequences for not following these cybersecurity policies.

If your workforce does not understand cyberthreat risk or protective strategies, they are putting your organization at risk for possible attack. Employees must learn how to share information without uncovering sensitive internal information, especially to competitors. Make sure this education happens on a consistent and regular basis and hold people accountable for anything done outside of the rules.

It’s not enough to have a great password (mixed with upper and lower case letters, numbers, and various symbols) since you will need to change it often to stay safe. If you can easily incorporate multifactor authentication (requiring additional information beyond a password to gain entry) into your system, take advantage of this secure method.

If people use cards for your products and services, work directly with your bank or card processor for best practices. For example, make sure that they are providing access to the most up-to-date, validated, and trusted tools and anti-fraud services. Additionally, use separate computers for payment processing and personal use to minimize risk. Secure chip technology continues to help increase the likelihood of safe transactions.

It’s so easy to forget to do, but make sure that you back up important data on all business computers, especially copies of important business documents and information. Think about all the files that you use every day from HR records to databases to financial spreadsheets, and you’ll realize just how much it is that you need to back up. Luckily, much of the backup process can be automated. You can also access the cloud for enhanced storage options if needed, but keep safety in mind there, too.

Unauthorized individuals should never have a free pass to your information. Never leave out unattended laptops, and be sure to create specific individual user accounts for every employee that are only accessible through strong passwords. Only the most trusted employees should have administrative privileges.

As a mobile society, we are increasingly using our mobile devices for any and everything work-related. This can be a bit tricky and risky for small business owners since these devices often contain sensitive information. All users should be required to protect their devices with passwords, install security apps, and encrypt their data when their phone is connected to public networks. If a phone or other mobile device is stolen, make sure reporting procedures are in place to take the next step.

While small business owners are almost always sure to protect information-grabbing pages (i.e. checkout, sign-up), the rest of the site may be overlooked. ALL pages must be protected with the right tools.

If your business has been attacked, there are a few different resources that you can contact. You can report cybercrimes (including stolen identities and finances) to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, as well as local law enforcement or the state attorney general as appropriate. All fraud instances should be reported to the Federal Trade Commission.

To best protect yourself today, tomorrow, and beyond, get up to speed on the latest cyber threats and armor every facet of your organization as an impenetrable shield.

For additional information, please read our 2015 cybersecurity article, Protect Your Business from Cybercrime.

This article is made possible by Checksforless.com. For more than 35 years, Checksforless.com has provided over 500,000 businesses with high quality business checks, deposit slips, and other banking supplies with easy ordering and fast production times; all at the guaranteed lowest price in the nation. Our discount business checks are easily customizable and compatible with over 4,500 software programs including QuickBooks® and Peachtree/Sage®. Email or call us toll-free at 800-245-5775.

References:
https://www.sba.gov/navigation-structure/cybersecurity