Talk to many home-based business owners about cybersecurity and they’ll often laugh it off, saying things like:
“No one would ever want to hack my small business — there’s nothing to take!”
Unfortunately, however, this is a foolish mindset. Home-based business owners of all stripes would be extremely surprised to know how much of a target they really are. In fact, according to the United States Small Business Administration (SBA), “Cyber attacks are a growing concern for small businesses … [they] are attractive targets because they have information that cybercriminals want, and they typically lack the security infrastructure of larger businesses.”
So, is your home-based business taking the threat of hackers and data breaches seriously? If not, it’s time to start.
Cedric Brown is a Charlotte IT support professional with William Ives Consulting and offers some cybersecurity best practice tips to get you started.
What Are Best Practice Tips for Improving the Cybersecurity of Your Small Business?
1. Ensure you have a strong backup of all your data.
Every business — large or small — needs to have a comprehensive backup of their data. This backup should be stored in the cloud and not on-premise. Doing this can help businesses avoid the fiasco of having ransomware or some other malicious software compromise their single set of data. When you have a backup, you’re always ready to bounce back from a security breach.
2. Speak to your employees about how to manage passwords, and use multi-factor identification.
Your home-based business should be speaking to all employees, contractors, and freelancers about choosing strong passwords, not reusing passwords for multiple logins, and changing passwords often. All employees should also use multi-factor identification.
This is especially true if you have employees who use devices from home to connect to your company’s networks and internal systems.
3. Set up anti-malware and a firewall.
Anti-malware and firewall software can be installed on your company’s devices and network in order to prevent the installation of malware and other viruses. Often, these malicious breaches enter your system through company employee errors.
Even though employees often have the best intentions, scams like phishing emails can cause breaches. The good news is anti-malware and firewall software can usually stop these breaches before they become major problems.
4. Hire an IT service company to manage and/or monitor your small business’s cybersecurity.
Lastly, choose an IT service company to work with. It’s easy to assume that you can simply handle your company’s technology by yourself, but this is probably unlikely. Moreover, as your business grows, you won’t want to spend all of your time dealing with small issues like computer crashes, cybersecurity monitoring, maintaining backups and compliance, and other IT services. A strong partnership with an IT service company in your area is a good place to start. You can generally only pay for the tier of service that you require so that you don’t have to pay a huge flat fee for services you won’t ever use.
Cybersecurity should be an essential part of your IT service plan. Use the best practices above to ensure a strong security strategy and to keep your business safe from cyber threats.
