Safeguarding Your Business in the Digital Frontier

In today's digital age, the accessibility of sensitive data and highly confidential information poses a significant risk to business entities, their technology infrastructure, and their reputation. It is crucial for businesses to explore cybersecurity options to safeguard their operations. Whether you invest in an updated and secure system or prioritize the development of a robust Cyber Security Policy, there are numerous ways to protect your business.

What is Cyber Security? Why is it Important?

Cyber security is the art of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.

Cyber security is essential because it protects all categories of data, ranging 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.

There are many risks to having poor cyber security, some more serious than others. Inadequate protection can include but is not limited to, malware erasing an entire system, an attacker breaking into a system and altering files, or stealing credit card information. 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 minimize their risks.

How to Keep Your Cyber Information Safe:

• Recruit the Right Employees: It is crucial to ensure that the candidates you are considering for employment possess the necessary knowledge and skills in cybersecurity.
• Provide Comprehensive Training: Upon hiring, it is essential to thoroughly train employees on all systems, policies, and procedures. Make it mandatory for all employees to undergo Cyber Security Training at the time of employment and annually thereafter.
• Implement Multifactor Authentication: Enhance the security of your accounts by implementing multifactor authentication. This additional layer of protection significantly reduces the likelihood of unauthorized access.
• Remember, it is essential to regularly update your software and be cautious while clicking on links or downloading attachments in emails.
• Additionally, using strong passwords and establishing a robust Cyber Security Policy is crucial to safeguarding your business against cyber threats.  This means adding an extra step for logging into accounts, websites, or applications, which asks the user to confirm who they say they are.
• Update Your Software. Update your software. It may be best to turn on automatic updates.

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. 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 critical 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 Cyber Security policy provides more protection for the business. Setting guidelines and procedures for employees allows them to know and understand what is required to ensure their devices, systems, and passwords are secure and protected and what to do should they experience a breach in data or potential cyber threats.

Employers should review their Cyber Security Policy to ensure they have set guidelines for employees and have provided them with procedures to follow.