In this easy guide for small businesses, you can discover:
- What cybersecurity is
- Why cybersecurity is important
- Cybersecurity tips and best practices
This is a great way to boost your cybersecurity knowledge and implement a strong cybersecurity strategy moving forward. As a result, you’ll be able to better protect your business from outside threats.
What is Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is the practice of defending your business from cyberattacks. Usually, this involves applying different technologies and practices so that your business networks and devices can’t be touched by cybercriminals — no matter how hard they try.
A lot of cybersecurity is to do with IT risk management. When your IT risk management is good, then there’s usually nothing to worry about. This is why countless businesses use cloud-based GRC software from surecloud.com to identify, monitor, and eliminate potential cyber threats (if required). Without GRC software, businesses are much more exposed and unaware of the cyber threats around them, which is why it’s recommended that you use it, too.
Why Cybersecurity is Important
Cybersecurity is incredibly important for a number of reasons. Here’s a closer look at some of the benefits of cybersecurity:
- Protect your sensitive data (e.g., customer bank details)
- Prevent financial losses
- Maintain the trust of your employees and customers
Let’s imagine for a second that your business falls victim to a cyberattack. The cyberattack results in all of your customer and employee data being stolen, which then leads to your reputation being completely damaged. In some cases, this can be almost impossible to recover from, as demonstrated by the various banks and businesses that have failed to protect their customers from cyberattacks over the years.
Now, you understand why cybersecurity is so important, which is great. Logically, the next step is to tell you some cybersecurity tips and best practices. This way, you’ll know exactly how to protect your business moving forward, whether you’re a small start-up or have been operating in your industry for a few years.
Provide Employees with Phishing Training
Every employee you have who uses company devices (such as your computers and business phones) needs to be given phishing training.
Phishing attacks are the biggest cyber threat facing businesses today. A phishing attack is when a business manager or employee receives a message, usually in the form of an email, that contains a dangerous link inside it. The phishing message itself will be deceptive, as the sender will pretend to be a reputable company, such as Apple or Microsoft. This is by design, as it makes people more likely to click on the link inside. If the link gets clicked, it can lead to problems, from hacked servers to stolen data.
This is why phishing training is essential for both you (the business manager) and your employees.
Use Two-Factor Authentication
Next, make sure that employees use two-factor authentication when logging into their company accounts.
When two-factor authentication is turned on, it makes it almost impossible for remote hackers to gain access to company accounts, which is why it’s one of the most trusted cybersecurity practices around.
Only Use Secure WIFI
Secure WIFI can be trusted. Unsecure WIFI (such as free public WIFI) can’t be trusted. So, when you and your employees travel around, such as when you need to attend meetings and conferences, don’t connect any company device to public WIFI or other unsecured networks. This way, you won’t have to worry about your activity being monitored or data getting stolen.