Chances are you’ve heard about some of the major data breaches that have taken place over the past few years – Target and Equifax, to name a couple. The thing that small business owners have to remember is that it’s not just the big corporations that are at risk of data breaches. In fact, most of the targets for data breaches are small or medium-sized businesses. So, that means that it’s important to take steps to improve cybersecurity in your Atlanta business. How do you do that? We’ve got eight tips.
How to improve cybersecurity in your business.
1. Train your employees on cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity needs to extend across your entire business, which means that you need to train your employees about how to handle sensitive information and computers.
- Make sure to train your employees about procedures you have in place to protect client information.
- Educate your employees about phishing scams, which can strike by email or over the phone. You can also talk about other online scams your employees should be aware of – there are plenty of them.
- Ask all employees to use passwords that are difficult to guess but easy to remember. Ideally, passwords should be at least 8 characters long, have both capital and lowercase letters, and include symbols (!@*&) or numbers.
- If there are places that you can set up 2-factor authentication, do. That means that you need one more step to sign in to important accounts. It can help to prevent cybercriminals from hacking into things they shouldn’t have access to.
- Don’t send payment information or discuss sensitive information online.
These are just a few best practices to teach your employees that will help your entire team improve cybersecurity. Make sure that they understand the importance of being cautious online.
2. Update your computers.
It’s also important that you keep up with updating your computers – that can really help you improve cybersecurity. Some updates contain security patches and other measures that will protect your devices. Hackers exploit weak spots in computer security, but making sure to keep up with updates can help address the weaknesses.
3. Have backups of information stored on computers.
If there ever comes a day that your computer system is compromised, it might come in handy to have a backup of all the important information that you have stored there. Keep this backup in a secure location that can’t be breached.
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4. Only grant access to secure information to the people who need access.
Whether it’s protecting your physical location so that people can’t get to your computers or having sign-ins that prevent employees from accessing certain things on your computers, you’ve got to make sure that only the people who need to access sensitive information can do so.
Pro tip: Keep track of the physical keys to the building. Make sure you know who has a key and collect keys from employees who are no longer going to work for you.
5. Lock down your Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi can be a weak spot when it comes to cybersecurity. If you’re going to offer Wi-Fi to guests or clients who visit you, have a separate network from that which your employees use.
6. Have firewalls for your computers.
It’s also really important to have a good firewall on your computers to prevent hacking. A firewall basically blocks outside sources from getting into your computer system while allowing you to send messages and communicate from within your computer system. A firewall can block hackers and would-be data thieves.
7. Shred papers with sensitive information.
However unlikely it might seem that someone would root through your business’s trash or recycling, it’s not secure to place documents with sensitive information printed on them in the trash. These should all be shredded to prevent enterprising hackers from stealing private information.
8. Consider cyber insurance.
If your business handles a lot of sensitive information and you’re worried about the fallout from a data breach, you might want to do some research to see if cyber insurance is right for you. This is a type of insurance that’s specifically designed to protect you from liability arising from things like data breaches and hacking. It can also help you if you’re the victim of cyber extortion, in which a hacker steals or locks your files and demands money for their release. (Sounds crazy, but it happens – it’s also called ransomware.) Talk to your InsuranceHub agent today to see if cyber insurance would be a good idea for your business.
These are just a few simple tips to improve cybersecurity in your business. You might not want to think that your business is a potential target for hackers, but, as we said, many small businesses are victims of identity theft and data breaches every year. Even though cyber threats seem kind of invisible, they’re still there and you need to take a stand against them.
Are you looking for business insurance? We can help. Our team of insurance professionals can help you shop for your rates so you can compare coverage options and pricing. We’re pros at making insurance easy and helping businesses like yours save money on their insurance coverage. To get started with your business insurance quotes, just fill out our online form or give us a call today. We’re at your service.
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