Unless your business exists primarily offline, all your sensitive data is vulnerable to hacking. Regardless of scale, every business is capable of being hacked, whether you’re a large-scale corporation or a small mom-and-pop business. As more businesses migrate their operations online, tough cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly necessary precaution against cyber attacks. Here’s how you can boost your business’ cybersecurity to ensure your data is safe and secure.
Form a dedicated support team
Cybersecurity isn’t something that you and your employees can develop and manage on your own, you’ll need a dedicated tech support team for that. These types of people are trained and knowledgeable about the ways to shield your company against cyber attacks and keep your customer, employee, and company data safe.
Keep your systems updated and patched
Developers are always finding new ways to improve upon the security of their software. Plenty of software updates are released regularly, and it’s important to stay on top of all of them. You can reduce the risk of a cyber attack by making sure all your systems are updated and patched. This is especially important for your antivirus software.
Back your data up
In the unfortunate event that your data does get hacked and stolen, then you’ll need to rely on back-ups to restore everything. This is why you need to make sure you have regularly updated physical and digital copies of your data stored in various locations just in case something like this happens to your business. Without back-ups, you could just about lose all your important files and documents.
Utilize two-step verification
Two-step verification is a secure authentication method that requires users to perform an extra identifying action besides inputting their password to be granted access to a certain account. An example of a common authentication method is SMS verification whereby the website or app sends a text message to your linked phone number with a one-time use code you have to input in order to go forward. This enhances your cybersecurity since passwords can be quite easy to steal.
Encrypt your data
If your company handles particularly sensitive data, you should ensure that this data is encrypted. This means that the data is translated into a different form that’s only accessed by using a decryption key or password.
Use a password management system
A password manager tool can keep track of and create unique passwords for your business’ various online accounts. These complex passwords are secure and difficult to hack or steal. Security professionals recommend that you change your password every month to keep your data safe. A password manager tool can help you do this with ease while also keeping a record of these passwords for you.
Perform regular security assessments
A security assessment is a necessary procedure that your business needs to undertake to identify vulnerabilities and risks in your cybersecurity infrastructure. It’s necessary that you get them done at least once a month to make sure you can quickly address any serious flaws in your security system before it’s too late.
As most businesses adjust to the new normal by shifting their operations online, it’s become more important than ever to increase cybersecurity. Protect your business from cyberattacks and keep your data secure by keeping these practical strategies in mind.
