Your small business is under attack from cyber threats. What are you doing to protect it?

1 Use strong passwords

One of the easiest ways to prevent hackers from accessing your accounts and systems is to use strong passwords that are hard to guess or crack. A strong password should be at least 12 characters long, and include a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. You should also avoid using the same password for multiple accounts, and change your passwords regularly. To make it easier to manage your passwords, you can use a password manager tool that can generate and store them securely.

2 Update your software

Another simple but effective way to protect your small business from cyber threats is to update your software regularly. Software updates often contain patches that fix security vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. You should update not only your operating system, but also your applications, antivirus, firewall, and any other software that you use for your business. You can also enable automatic updates to ensure that you don't miss any important ones.

3 Encrypt your data

Encryption is a process that converts your data into a code that can only be read by authorized parties who have the key to decrypt it. Encryption can protect your data from being stolen, tampered with, or leaked by hackers, even if they manage to breach your network or device. You should encrypt your data both in transit and at rest, meaning when you send or receive it over the internet, and when you store it on your hard drive, cloud, or external device. You can use encryption tools or software that can encrypt your data automatically or on demand.

4 Educate your staff

Your staff can be your strongest asset or your weakest link when it comes to cybersecurity. You need to educate them on the common types of cyber threats, such as phishing, malware, ransomware, and denial-of-service attacks, and how to recognize and avoid them. You should also train them on how to follow your cybersecurity policies and procedures, such as how to use passwords, backup data, report incidents, and access authorized resources. You can conduct regular cybersecurity awareness sessions, quizzes, or simulations to test and reinforce their knowledge and skills.

5 Backup your data

Even if you follow all the other cybersecurity best practices, you still need to backup your data regularly. Backup is a process that creates a copy of your data and stores it in a separate location, such as an external hard drive, a cloud service, or a remote server. Backup can help you recover your data in case of a cyberattack, a natural disaster, a human error, or a hardware failure. You should backup your data at least once a week, or more frequently depending on how often you update it. You should also test your backup regularly to ensure that it works and that you can restore your data.