Cyber attacks can be absolutely devastating to any growing business. In fact, cybercrime has cost the global economy over $1 trillion in a single year. Although cybercrime rates are high, there are steps you can take to prevent attacks from happening. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the ways you can protect your business from future cyber attacks.
What Are Cyber Attacks and Why Are They Dangerous?
A cyber attack is a malicious attack on a computer system or network. Online criminals often launch these attacks to steal identities, gain control of sensitive company information, or expose information, often with the goal of extorting the victim for large sums of money.
There are many different types of cyber attacks, including malware, phishing, DoS attacks, and more. Not only can cyber attacks result in financial losses for you, but they can also affect your customers. Cyber attacks can compromise your ability to provide products and services to your customers, and worse, they can also compromise your customers’ identities and security online.
Get Your Employees on Board
In order to prevent cyber attacks from happening, you’ll need to use cybersecurity best practices across the board. Even small mistakes can put your company in a vulnerable position, so you’ll need to make sure every employee understands how to prevent them. This includes everyone from C-suite employees all the way down to part-time contractors or interns. Even as an entrepreneur, you should be using security best practices as you get your business off the ground. Providing ongoing cybersecurity training for your employees empowers them to make smarter security decisions as they work.
Keep Your Hardware Secure
Although much of our data is stored on the cloud these days, most businesses still have some physical hardware onsite. It is very important to make sure this hardware is stored securely and only available to authorized personnel. Your hardware should also be kept in a temperature-controlled space to keep it in good condition.
This also means keeping your employees’ portable devices secure. While many companies now have a virtual team structure with a ‘bring-your-own-device’ policy, this can lead to security issues if it isn’t handled properly. If your employees are using their own devices, make sure to invest in anti-virus protection and regular maintenance for them to keep them secure. It can also help to keep access to secure data siloed so that employees only have access to the data that is necessary to do their jobs.
Use Reliable Network Technology and Digital Platforms
In addition to keeping your hardware secure, you’ll also need to take steps to protect your network. At minimum, this means using a next-gen firewall and a next-gen antivirus protection program to keep malware out. DNS filters are also crucial for catching and eliminating potential security threats.
On top of that, you will need to be thoughtful about the technology platforms you work with, as these can also pose a security threat. This is particularly important when choosing a web host and a payment processing platform for your website. These platforms should use security best practices to protect both you and your customers.
Additionally, you should back up all of your most sensitive data on a regular basis. Make sure your backups are stored separately from the rest of your systems with different login credentials. If cyber criminals do somehow get access to your system, this ensures that you will still have a copy of all of your most important data.
Use Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication is a simple but effective way to confirm your users’ identities. An MFA system requires two or more identifying pieces of information from the user in order to log in. A common form of multi-factor authentication requires users to log in on multiple devices. After the user has entered their username and password on their computer, for example, they will receive a text message on their phone with a confirmation code that they will need to access your network.
Update Your Systems Regularly
Technology moves quickly and new cyber threats emerge frequently. In order to keep up with all of these changes, it’s important to update your systems on a regular basis. Your IT team should schedule time each month to make necessary updates to the applications and devices you are using. Out-of-date technology gives hackers an opportunity to make their way into your network and cause damage.
Implementing these best practices can protect your most important data from ever-present cybersecurity threats. If you’re struggling to keep your systems protected, you may also consider hiring an outside security team to upgrade your networks.
short url:
