There are over 305 million startups created annually, with the majority relying heavily on digitalized operations.
Unfortunately, startups and small businesses have proven to be popular targets among cybercriminals due to limited cybersecurity skills, expertise, and resources to protect their infrastructures and data.
In this post, read about five essential cybersecurity skills startup owners must have to minimize or prevent any disruption or data loss.
Essential Cybersecurity Skills for Startup Owners
1. Network Infrastructure Administration
As a startup owner, you may not have the resources to hire a team of IT security experts to protect and administer your network infrastructure.
Hence, you need at least a basic understanding of networking and its essential technical aspects, such as configurations and data transmission.
2. Network Security Control
Network Security Control is another fundamental cybersecurity skill every startup owner with internet-based applications and data should have. It involves learning about routers, firewalls, and other network devices that block incoming or outgoing traffic.
For instance, most startups use a VPN (virtual private network) to hide their IP addresses and browse anonymously, especially when operating remotely or using public WiFi networks.
According to Cybersecurity Ventures, nearly 60% of startups and small businesses close within six months of operations due to data breaches or cyber-attacks. Hence, learning how to manage network traffic could make or break your business.
3. Cybersecurity Incident Handling & Response
Apart from learning how to prevent cyber attacks, you must learn how to handle and respond to threats disrupting your workflow or stealing your data.
With security incident management, you can equip yourself with the skills required to identify, manage, analyze, and combat attacks in real time.
In many cases, this involves leveraging popular cybersecurity or SEM tools to improve your data security literacy and enable continuous monitoring and reporting.
4. Leveraging AI-Based Cybersecurity Tools and Software
In the last two decades, there’s been a massive influx of cybersecurity tools and software in the market. However, in recent years, many modern tools have been integrated with artificial intelligence and other powerful technologies.
According to a study by IBM, nearly 35% of startups, small businesses, and mega enterprises are using AI-based cybersecurity tools and solutions to monitor their traffic, data, and devices.
However, most startup owners, especially those from non-IT backgrounds, don’t know how to use AI. Fortunately, more sophisticated tools are entering the market that doesn’t require human intervention to operate.
The only catch is to muster sufficient knowledge to identify the best AI-driven tools for your infrastructure needs.
5. System and Software Maintenance
Finally, as a business owner, you must be able to maintain your operating systems and cybersecurity infrastructure. Doing so will ensure your devices and applications are up-to-date and adhere to the latest security standards.
Essential skills in this particular domain include learning how to install security patches or perform system upgrades.
Wrapping Up
Now that you’re aware of the five most essential cybersecurity skills for startup owners, you can proactively equip yourself with the knowledge, tools, and resources to accelerate the learning curve and optimize infrastructure protection.
Cybersecurity is set to become an even more serious concern in the future, especially for startups. Unlike their established counterparts, most startup owners have modest operating budgets.
Hence, the last thing they want is to deal with the financial repercussions of data loss, downtime, or systems failure caused by a cyber attack. You especially want to avoid such scenarios when you don’t have the finances or connections to deal with disruptions.
Therefore, taking protection and due diligence on your hands is an excellent way to mitigate some risks associated with digitalized operations.
