How to protect your business data from cybercrime

An occasional headline appears detailing another major corporation that has fallen victim to cybercrime and suffered a data breach. But just because you only read about the cyber attacks that target big businesses doesn’t mean small and medium businesses aren’t also affect.

In fact, over 40% of cyber attacks are aimed specifically at small businesses, and 50% of all small and mid-sized businesses have experienced at least one cyber attack last year. Experts state that cybercrime is on the rise, and cyber security is more important than ever to ensure your network is secure and your data is properly protected.

Many businesses fail to properly protect their networks and their data simply because they don’t have a dedicated IT department and owners are not experts in cyber security. But there is no need to have a vast amount of knowledge to keep your business safe — many cyber security protocols are just common sense that can be easily learned and taught.

How Can I Protect My Business From Cybercrime Without Being an Expert?

The good news is that there are many simple cyber security precautions you can take and protocols you can follow without expert knowledge and experience in IT and network security.

Install a Firewall and Antivirus Software

This is the first line of defense against cyber criminals. But installing it isn’t enough — you’ve got to keep it updated regularly as well. Hackers synchronize their attacks to take advantage of weaknesses in system software and outdated virus protection software. Updating your virus protection software as soon as an update is available helps to prevent newly created malware and viruses from getting through.

Update all Applications and System Software

These updates are extremely important as well, as the majority of them focus on fixing security flaws in the programming. Updating the applications and software as soon as updates are available helps to eliminate a great deal of threats and closes gaps in network security.

Tip: Many systems and applications allow for automatic updates. Enable this and you won’t have to worry about missing an update by accident.

Back Up All Your Data on a Regular Basis

A cyber attack that results in a loss of data can be detrimental to a small or mid-sized business. In fact, about 60% of small businesses that suffer a cyber attack that results in data loss go out of business within 6 months. But if you have a disaster recovery plan, or, at the very least, daily backups of your data, you can keep business going as usual without a major loss of productivity.

Data backups are also a great way to ensure you have sufficient ransomware protection. A ransomware attack could cripple a business and cost you a great deal of money if you don’t have your data backed up on a separate network or in a cloud storage system.

Cloud backups keep your data safe in another location, so that even if your network is breached and affected by a cyber attack, all your critical data is still safely stored away and untouched. You can automate backups to run during the evening hours when there is less traffic on the network.

Consider managed services for handling your data backup and disaster recovery plan. Doing so enables you to continue working with peace of mind that your data wont be lost due to a hacker, ransomware attack, or even an unfortunate incident such as a flood or fire.

Establish Cyber Security Protocols for Your Employees

Over 80% of IT managers agree that malware threats are becoming harder to stop. But by properly training all members of your organization to practice common sense cyber security measures, you can significantly reduce the risk of a successful cyber attack or malware intrusion, as well as improve ransomware protection.

Human error and negligence account for over 50% of security breaches, and most malware successfully infects a computer or network due to users unknowingly downloading malware hidden in an email or an unknown link. That’s why employee education is a major component of preventing cyber attacks.

Employees should be taught to only open links or click on attachments that come from trusted sources. Proper knowledge of what to look for in suspicious emails or how to identify a fake website will make a big difference. Additionally, by making employees aware of phishing attacks and how to recognize them, you can greatly minimize the risk of such an occurrence.

Password protection is also vitally important. Anything that can be protected with a password should be, and employees should not share passwords with others. Dual-factor authentication is also a great deterrent to hackers and cyber attacks. This method of securing accounts makes it much more difficult for hackers to access important accounts.

Limit permissions for certain data, files, and networks to those who actually need it. Giving everyone permission to access everything on your network only opens up more possibilities for a data breach.

Managed Services for Professional Cyber Security

Consider utilizing managed services to help you actively practice strong cyber security, as well as a backup and disaster recovery plan. A professional cyber security managed services team is actively monitoring your network 24/7 for strange network traffic, and can successfully discover unknown threats, analyze data in real-time, and respond automatically to incidents and infections.

Intrusion detection and data breach prevention tools will work automatically behind the scenes, enabling you to act as quickly as possible. This enables you to effectively simplify your IT management and focus on other aspects of your business with peace of mind. You’ll gain greater control over your network without the need for expert knowledge.

Erick Solms is the Founder of Simplitfy in West Palm Beach, Florida. Simplitfy provides a myriad of professional IT Services for small and medium sized businesses. To contact him personally or to inquire about information technology services, please email [email protected] or visit www.simplitfy.com