Nowadays, it’s one of the big fears of any business. Once upon a time, businesses did their upmost to protect their organization from any physical threats; yet now this has shifted to cyber threats.
This shift really should not come as a surprise. After all, we have been used to reading in the news for the last few years of umpteen major companies being the subject of cyber-attacks that have compromised user data. This has led to a lot of SMEs rightfully questioning if it can happen to them, what about the smaller players who don’t have dedicated teams employed to tackle such threats?
Of course, with the likes of a disaster recovery service from UKCloud being a little more mainstream now, it has mitigated the risk somewhat. However, it’s still worth being on your guard and through today’s guide we will take a look at some of the key steps you should take to reduce the cyber risks to your business.
Educate your employees on phishing
One of the biggest breakthroughs when it comes to the topic of cybersecurity has been phishing.
It wasn’t too long ago that this term had barely been invented, but now it is one of the most important things you as a company must understand.
In its simplest terms, phishing involves “fake emails”. Usually, they are masked as being from financial institutions, who will effectively ask you to disclose your personal information.
These emails can look exceptionally “real”, so it is crucial that you educate your employees so they know how to spot the signs and ultimately stop your business from transferring money into the wrong hands. If they don’t do it, they might be surprised that they’ve been wasting a lot of money. Ask your employees to always check their accounts to make sure they don’t have issues, and if they have, report it immediately, or have it fixed. They might ask for help from credit repair companies, like Sky Blue, to fix their account’s issues. Check their review for 2019. This is important because again, phishing has improved big time, so better arm your employees.
The same rules apply with viruses
We’ve just spoken about phishing, but when it comes to these cyber issues viruses should be on your hitlist as well. In truth, these are a little more understood than other threats we have spoken about; they seem to have been around since the launch of the very first computers.
With regards to your security, how should you take the appropriate steps to ensure your network isn’t infiltrated by a virus? Usually, these are transmitted by attachments in emails, so simply asking your employees to be extra vigilant with anything they download is the best piece of advice you can follow.
Always stay updated
Particularly amongst small businesses, it can sometimes be tempting to skip those “annoying” updates that are constantly flashing on your screen.
Well, this is asking for trouble. These updates tend to cover security holes which have already been found by cyber criminals. By not updating regularly, you are simply asking to be targeted by such individuals, and asking for your company data to get into the wrong hands.
Only use company devices
Something else which tends to affect smaller companies is when they start to allow their employees to use their own, personal devices for work purposes.
This can have immense consequences. These devices don’t tend to have anywhere near as much security installed on them as “company devices”, meaning that all of your data can be accessed much more easily should the device get into the wrong hands.