Cyber Security: What Small Businesses Need to Know

Security has long been a major concern of companies. But while protecting your business used to mean locks on the doors or requiring key cards for entry, times are changing. There are more online businesses and brands launching than ever before. In fact, worldwide e-commerce sales are expected to grow to nearly $5 trillion by 2021.

As a result, for many companies, cybersecurity is more important than physical security. You need to protect your company as well as the private and sensitive information you hold. And with data breaches becoming increasingly more harmful to businesses, there is no better time to get your small businesses cybersecurity in check.

With that in mind, this article is going to look at a few cybersecurity tips that small businesses can and should use.

Know the Threats You Face

The first step to cybersecurity knowledge as a small business is being aware of the threats that you face. If you don’t know what you’re up against, it will be impossible to know how to combat it. There are a variety of different attacks that hackers can use. These can range from trying to convince your employees to provide information via phishing or by attacking your website through a DDOS.

While some might seem like more severe threats than others, all need to be accounted for. There are plenty of other common attacks including the use of bots, ransomware, trojans, and others. Also, hackers and data thieves are constantly coming up with new kinds of attacks, so you always need to be aware of any new threats that could come about.

Use the Right Tools to Protect Yourself

Once you are aware of the cybersecurity issues potentially threatening your company, you need to start finding out how to protect yourself. Thankfully, there are a ton of different tools out there that can help protect your company. Cybersecurity is a huge industry and because of that, there are players (large and small) that can help your business.

These tools can range from firewalls to anti-malware software and even using backups. They all serve different purposes, with the collective goal of keeping your company and information safe and secure. When it comes to backups, consider using a cloud backup for small business. It is much more effective and safe than using an external hard drive and manually backing up data. It is automated, cost-effective, and you don’t have to worry about forgetting to back up important information.

Be Sure to Educate Your Staff

While having great tools and policies to protect your company is great, your employees still need to be educated on them. They need to know how to use the tools, need to be aware of good browsing practices and a variety of other things. Make sure they sign a document saying they have been trained or are aware of your policies. They need to be held accountable and know the importance of security.

Some companies will handle all of the cybersecurity training themselves, but others may prefer to outsource it to another company. Whichever method you decide on, you want to ensure your employees know what is expected of them and what to do. Of course, when policies or tools are updated or upgraded, employees may need to be trained again. If not, they could miss or forget about certain functionalities.

Hopefully, this article will help you keep your business safe. Hackers and data thieves are only becoming more robust in their efforts, so be sure to take cybersecurity very seriously.