The risk of data theft, scams, and security breaches can have a detrimental impact on a business entity's system, technology infrastructure, and Company reputation. We live in a digital age where sensitive data and personal/highly confidential information can be readily accessed.
To ensure your business is protected, you may want to explore cybersecurity options. Whether you obtain an updated and secure system or focus on your Cyber Security Policy, there are several ways to protect your business.
What Is Cyber Security?
Cybersecurity is the art of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and the practice of ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.
Why Is it Important?
Cybersecurity is important because it protects all categories of data from theft and damage. This includes sensitive data, personally identifiable information (PII), protected health information (PHI), personal information, intellectual property, data, and governmental and industry information systems.
How to Prevent Cyber Attacks on Businesses
There are many risks to having poor cybersecurity, some more serious than others.
Poor security can lead to:
- Malware erasing an entire system
- An attacker breaking into a system and altering files
- An attacker stealing credit card information
- And more
There is no guarantee that even with the best precautions, some of these things won't happen, but there are steps businesses can take to prevent cybersecurity fraud or other types of cyber attacks.
7 Steps to Prevent Cybersecurity Fraud in a Small Organization
Small organizations (and big ones) should take the following seven precautions, or steps, to help keep their business safe and secure in the digital world.
Hire the Right Employees
Ensure the candidates you are reviewing have the necessary knowledge and skills to avoid falling victim to cyber attacks.
Properly Train Employees
Upon hire, properly train employees on all systems, policies, and procedures.
You may even want to go as far as to require all employees to take Cyber Security Training at the time of hire and each year after. If you are interested in a Cyber Security online training course, along with other training courses that may be available to you, check out our training services, part of our New York HR Services.
Turn on Multifactor Authentication
Consider implementing multifactor authentication on your accounts and making it significantly harder for employee profiles to be hacked.
This means adding an extra step for logging into accounts, websites, or applications that asks the user to confirm who they really say they are.
Update Your Software
Keep your software up to date with the latest versions. In fact, it may be best to turn on automatic updates or set in place a process to check for available updates.
Communicate to Employees "Think Before You Click"
Think before you click. More than 90% of successful cyber attacks start with a phishing email.
If any part of the email seems off, such as the misspelling of an email address or a person requesting you to confirm your password or personal information, report it to your IT specialist or an appropriate company representative.
Use Strong Passwords
Urge employees to use strong passwords, and ideally a password manager to generate and store unique passwords.
Picking a password is easy, but it may be easier to hack. The key aspects of a strong password are length (the longer the better), a mix of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and symbols that have no ties to personal information.
Tighten Up Your Cyber Security Policy
Having a cybersecurity policy provides more protection for the business.
Setting guidelines and procedures in place for employees allows them to know and understand what is required to ensure their devices, systems, passwords are secure and protected and what to do should they experience a breach in data or potential cyber threats.
Get Help with Cybersecurity for your Business
We encourage employers to review their Cyber Security Policy to ensure they have set guidelines for employees and have provided them with procedures to follow.
For those who need assistance with their current Cyber Security Policy, or would like to develop one, please contact us today.
