Security Tips to Protect Your Small Business Data

Cyber criminals pose serious threats to businesses all over the world. They steal data and use it to their own gain, causing many companies to close down or experience serious issues that damage the company, their clients, employees and customers. As a business owner, it’s important to recognize the serious threats around you and put systems in place that can protect you if you’re targeted next. A crisis plan, as well as web-based maintenance software can protect your business and maintain smooth operations.

Encrypt Your Data

Many cyber victims were simply targets of opportunity. You need to have systems in place that make the opportunists look elsewhere for an easy target. The first thing to do is ensure all your data is encrypted. Company information such as employee details, credit card accounts and bank details all needs to be protected a sit’s sent over the Internet. You can do this by using the encryption tools that come with your operating system. It will encrypt everything on your drive but only when users aren’t logged in, so it’s not completely fool proof.

Securing Your Hardware

Sometimes businesses are hacked into after a break-in. The criminals steal the hardware and from there they’re able to access your sensitive files and information. You can’t expect CCTV or alarms to put the criminals off either, not all of them will run away empty handed when they know they have been detected on the property. You can add extra security measures that can make it more difficult for your equipment to be stolen such as using lock ports to secure computers and laptops to the desks (if the thieves want to break the desk they will, so again you can’t rely only on this method). You can also:

• Secure all servers behind locked doors
• Use rack-mounting hardware
• Install tracking software on your equipment

Protect Your Network

Hackers scour the streets looking for unsecured WiFi networks. When they find a venerable WiFi spot the criminals can enter with ease and take all the passwords and data stored on the network. You can avoid this scenario by avoiding using Wi-Fi but that’s not really viable in today’s modern world. If you have to use WiFi disable the SSID broadcasting function on your router to hide your network. The network is then only visible to anyone who has the network name. You can also update to the current encryption standard using keys that are long and difficult to crack using a series of numbers, capital and lowercase letters and special characters. (image by SapphiraFey)

Use Anti-Virus Protection
Companies can be damaged by malicious software and viruses and it’s not necessary to install this software on your computer or network using WiFi, they can come through emails and harmful websites. The software then captures all of your keystrokes and login details sending it directly back to the hackers. They can then use the details to login to your accounts and do as they please. Avoid this with anti-malware and anti-virus software onto your computers. You should always update the software and replace any of this software as it becomes out of date.