With the rise of digital banking, cloud software, and remote work, cybersecurity for small businesses is more important than ever. A preventative cybersecurity plan designed to safeguard your customers or clients’ sensitive data is key to protecting your business’s reputation—and its very existence. Cyberattacks are expected to cost businesses up to $10.5 trillion by 2025, and as high as $15.63 trillion by 2029.
How Businesses Can Protect Sensitive Data from Cyberattacks
Small businesses are a frequent target for hackers and other malicious actors. In fact, the fallout from a cyberattack can be devastating for small businesses slammed with legal fees, compliance penalties, and in many cases, loss of customers.
Consider this: an estimated 50% of small businesses close within six months after a cyberattack.
However, by taking certain precautions, you can protect your business’s sensitive information and enjoy much needed peace of mind. Implementing strong cyber security best practices can help prevent data breaches, protect customer information, and reduce the risk of financial loss. Here are five recommended implementations to secure your company’s data:
1. Employ multiple layers of security
A wide variety of tools exist to provide an extra layer of security between your networks and bad actors. It’s a good idea to employ several different tools at once, including, but not limited to firewalls, anti-virus, and anti-spyware software. This approach is often referred to as “layered cybersecurity” or “defense in depth” and helps ensure that if one security measure fails, additional protections remain in place. This is especially important for people working from home if they are using their personal desktops.
In addition to employing these tools, a cybersecurity best practice entails you apply software, application, and operating system updates as soon as they become available, or even better, by enabling automatic updates. Out of date software exposes vulnerabilities that are easy for hackers to exploit. One option is a patch management system, which applies software code fixes, or “patches,” to security vulnerabilities the software developer might not have discovered yet. This helps protect your system between updates.
2. Implement a strong password policy
Your employees’ passwords are an important component of cybersecurity, so it’s crucial to make sure they’re using as strong a password as possible. To create a secure password, follow this rule of thumb: they should be at least 12 characters in length and include a combination of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and characters. By implementing minimum complexity requirements, prohibiting the reuse of old passwords, and enacting multi-factor authentication requiring users to provide two or more distinct verification factors, your employees’ passwords become increasingly difficult for malicious actors to guess using sophisticated algorithms and other methods. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is widely considered one of the most effective ways to prevent unauthorized access to business systems and financial accounts.
Of course, a strong password is just the first line of defense. It’s also recommended that your employees use different passwords for each account they need to carry out their job duties, limiting the damage should one of the accounts be breached. If remembering several different complex passwords sounds daunting, a secure password manager can help you stay organized.
3. Remove access for individuals that you no longer employ
When an employee leaves your organization, it’s important to immediately revoke their access to company systems, applications, and data. Former employees’ credentials can become an easy entry point for cybercriminals if they’re not disabled. As part of your offboarding process, be sure to deactivate user accounts, recover company-issued devices, revoke VPN and cloud access, and update shared passwords. It’s also a good habit to periodically review user access permissions, so current employees only have permissions that match their role.
4. Conduct cyber awareness training for employees
Maintaining best cybersecurity practices is a team effort, so everyone in the organization needs to be on board. A staggering 68% of cybersecurity breaches are enabled by human error, commonly through social engineering tactics, like phishing emails. Conducting regular company-wide cyber awareness training sessions is a great way to educate employees on how to spot untrustworthy emails, texts, and other attempts to trick them into unwittingly handing over sensitive information to a bad actor.
Employee cybersecurity training should cover:
- How to recognize phishing emails
- Safe Internet browsing habits
- Secure handling of sensitive customer information
- Best practices for using company devices and networks
5. Secure remote access to prevent unauthorized use
Given recent circumstances, remote work arrangements have become more common—and some experts say they’re here to stay. However, home networks lack the same level of security as the networks implemented on site. That means remote work can present more vulnerabilities for a hacker to exploit. That’s why enforcing multi-factor authentication and using access control lists to restrict functionality is key. If an employee logs on to your company’s network from a public WiFi hotspot or other unsecured internet connection, anyone can view or intercept the data you send. By requiring your employees to log on to the network with a virtual private network (VPN), you can ensure the safe transfer of data thanks to the VPN’s encryption capabilities.
6. Run regular security testing and monitoring
Breaches are more likely to fly under the radar if you don’t have network monitoring and threat detection in place. Your company can identify, and remedy, security breaches much sooner by investing in reputable anti-virus programs, conducting regular scans, and making sure you’ve enabled the most recent updates on all network devices. By employing these tactics, your company will be better positioned to identify and deal with data breaches before an external source takes advantage of them.
The key to preventing or recovering from a cybersecurity attack is planning. Before implementing any of these tactics, it’s a good idea to add a seasoned cybersecurity expert to your IT department or enlist skilled consultants. It’s also wise to implement a proactive security incident response plan to gauge how your company would react to a breach. The plan should include identification of escalation points, recovery strategies, and designated roles and responsibilities for each member of your team. Exploring these hypothetical scenarios and developing a solid action is worth the upfront investment. A solid strategy can pay dividends when it comes to keeping your company’s information secure. You will be able to respond quickly, minimize operational disruptions and protect sensitive customer data.
