As business owners, you gather and store sensitive data regarding your employees and customers. You may think that cyberattacks only are an issue for large companies, but 60 percent of data breaches affect small companies1.
A single breach could result in millions of dollars in fines and legal settlements, and could destroy your customer’s trust. It could also damage your business’s reputation, and may even put you out of the market.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for data security, however there are a few fundamental actions that every company can take to reduce the risk and safeguard themselves against threats like malware, phishing attacks, and data loss. By investing in secure passwords, securing important documents and offering security training to your employees, you can make it more difficult for hackers to access to your data.
Conduct regular risk assessments. This will allow you to identify weaknesses and help you prioritize your security efforts. Create a Comprehensive Security Policy: Create clear guidelines for access, data handling, and what you should do in the event of an incident involving data. Secure sensitive data to make it inaccessible to unauthorised users at both time of transport and rest. Destroy Unused Data: Consider guidelines that instruct your employees on how to erase or sanitize sensitive information (like shredding it digitally or degaussing it) so it can’t be accessible to anyone else who shouldn’t be able to access it.
With these suggestions, you can build the foundation of an efficient and secure infrastructure that will ensure your business continuity prior to, during, and after an attack from cybercriminals. Schedule a complimentary consultation with our Cybersecurity and IT experts to learn more about putting together the best plan for your specific business needs.