The world of cybersecurity has changed dramatically in the last decade. Although it is an ever-changing field, there are some basic strategies that small businesses can use to keep their data safe. This article covers these five essential cyber security strategies for small businesses: disaster recovery plans, firewalls, passwords and two-factor authentication, encryption, and identity management.
Disaster Recovery Plans
Business continuity is key to ensuring that a small business can continue operating. A disaster recovery plan should cover the basics of how and where data will be stored in case of theft, fire or flood. All businesses should have backup copies at least once per day with off-site storage available for more risky industries such as medical records or financial institutions. In addition, any information on servers or laptops not backed up regularly should also be encrypted because it may take time to recover this data if it’s lost by accident or attack.
Disaster recovery plans also need to address the issue of how to maintain operations if there is a sudden loss of key personnel. The plan should include emergency procedures for contacting, transferring and replacing company leadership in order to minimise operational disruption while still maintaining continuity at an executive level.
The goal is not only protection from disasters but also prevention against malware that can affect all aspects of business life such as network security vulnerabilities or staff members opening malicious email attachments leading to data theft. For example, by using two-factor authentication on every device and online account with different passwords, small businesses will find it more difficult for hackers to gain access into their system and steal valuable information like customer lists or sensitive financial records.
Firewalls
It’s important for small businesses to have a firewall in place that blocks unapproved traffic from the network. This includes any device with an IP address outside of your organisation, as well as users on inside devices that you don’t know or trust.
A hardware firewall is a physical device that sits between your network and another one; it can filter traffic by port, IP address or protocol type. Hardware firewalls may be either dedicated (installed on an individual computer) or distributed (applied through the use of software). They offer better protection than software-only firewall solutions. However, they also cost more to install and maintain. If you’re experiencing performance problems, consider dedicating computers for their sole purpose as a firewall appliance if they have enough processing power available. This will help reduce demand on other devices in your server environment. The downside? You’ll need additional resources devoted to managing this equipment and the software that supports it.
Passwords and Two-Factor Authentication
Another way to strengthen your cybersecurity is to enforce strong password policies, especially for those who are accessing company networks remotely (from home or another location). You shall require users to have at least six characters, use a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. The more complex a password is, the better chance it has of being un-hackable and resilient to brute force attacks. In addition, it is highly recommended that the users change their passwords every 30-90 days or more frequently if potential risk is deemed high.
In order for your company’s security measures not to be broken through by hackers who might gain access through an individual account, it is important that everyone in your organisation also implements two-factor authentication on all accounts. Passwords are no longer enough; you need something that can’t be guessed easily like a code sent via a text message from your phone. This will make it much harder for anyone but authorised personnel with physical proximity to get into data secured behind this authentication.
Furthermore, you shall make sure that all passwords and usernames haven’t been reused more than once or have any links to personal information such as birthdays or anniversaries. Because if one password was hacked then others would follow soon after. It may seem tedious, but it is essential to protect your company from external threats.
Finally make sure employees also understand how to identify phishing emails that try to trick them into typing in their passwords or clicking on links.
In order for these tools not to become a burden on employees with the potential of slowing productivity down even further, companies like Google offer two-factor authentication apps which can be downloaded onto phones and tablets easily. This gives people an easy and comfortable option of usage while also providing added security. Employees will need this app in order to access company data on their personal device, such as on the go or at home.
Encryption
Encryption is another security measure that can be taken to protect data. Encrypting a laptop is relatively easy. It takes just a few clicks of the mouse in order for all files inside the computer’s hard drive to have its contents scrambled into an unreadable format while still looking like text and numbers on-screen. As a result, it cannot be read by others, even if they were able to get their hands on the device or file with sensitive company details.
Encryption can also be used to protect data that is on a storage device such as flash drives. It’s just like the method for laptop encryption but it only requires one click of the mouse in order to properly encrypt data while not having any effect on how a file looks when opened inside an application. This type of protection makes it much more difficult for others from accessing confidential company information if these devices are lost or stolen, which has become all too common with laptops and mobile phones in today’s digital era.
Identity Management
Identity management involves the creation of a username and a password, which is used to log in a device or a network securely. This is usually done when using company-provided email accounts and logging into various websites that are associated with the business. For example, employees will use their identity credentials for Microsoft Outlook Mail or Google Gmail in order to send emails from their work account without having to worry about being hacked by outside parties who have been able to access these devices through nefarious means such as phishing scams or other methods.
For small businesses that have a more complex operation, where there is more than one person who has access to the same company email account, each employee will typically have his own username and password so that he does not need permission from other employees who also share access rights. A third party identity management system then determines which credentials are appropriate for each situation in order to make it difficult for hackers to get access.
Final Thought
Much like individuals, small businesses need cybersecurity solutions that are tailored specifically to their needs and capabilities. Larger corporations offer a wide range of enterprise-grade security solutions such as firewalls, antivirus software or end point protection which can be prohibitively expensive for smaller business owners on tighter budgets who just want the basics safeguarded. For these companies, there is also an opportunity to partner with third party organisations who provide specialised services that suits them best – whether this means implementing robust encryption schemes or ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, it usually is a lot more cost-efficient.
There is no one size fits all solution when it comes down to cyber safety. But by using some common sense combined with all these basic steps, even small businesses can survive most catastrophes without serious disruption to their business operations!