How to Make Your Small Business More Secure on a Budget

If you run a small business, then you need to do everything you can to keep it as secure as possible at all times. If you don’t then you become vulnerable to hackers and you may even find that you lose the trust of your customers as well. If you want to help yourself then it is so important that you implement the right measures so that both you and your employees can feel safer on a day-to-day basis.

Train your Team

Your team should be active participants when it comes to your cybersecurity policy. They need to understand the importance of keeping vendor and customer information safe, and they should also understand the company policies that you have. It also helps to give them training sessions on cybersecurity, so that they can learn about the latest threats and how to deal with them effectively, as well as things like check fraud prevention best practices, where appropriate, so that they know what to look out for and how to prevent this from happening. If your company should ever experience a breach, then your team also need to be aware of the consequences, and how they can best protect their own personal devices when they are being used on the company network. If you want some additional help with this, then it is always a good idea for you to look into MDM software with flat-rate pricing, as this will give you the chance to implement the right software without breaking the bank.

Passwords

It’s so important that your team create passwords that are strong and unique. This needs to be done for every account that they have. If your team work across both a desktop and mobile device, then they need to use a different password for each. This will help you to maintain a high level of security and it also means that if one password is beached, the other one is not. Employees can also add another layer of security to their accounts with two-factor authentication. This ultimately means that employees need to type in a code or even use their fingerprint to complete the sign-in process. This may sound drastic, but it can really help you to keep your business secure. If you are concerned about your business budget, then only use this for high-level or sensitive data.

Updates

Your computer, mobile device or laptop should be updated as much as possible. Your website browser needs to be up to date too, as this is the only way to protect yourself against the latest threats that are out there. You also need to check for any software security updates too. If you have cloud software then this is great, as this will usually be updated by the provider.

Backups

It’s so important that you back up all of the information you can across several devices. If any information gets stolen or goes missing, then you can feel confident knowing that you have another copy. Any important information that you have should be encrypted and it is also worth getting it password protected too. This will help you to protect all of your personal information and it will also help you to feel more confident in the system that you have.

Limit your Access

Unauthorised people should never have access to your computers or even your accounts. For example, if you have a client in your office then don’t let them use your company laptop to search for something on the Internet. Employees of different ranks and even positions should also be told not to share passwords with unauthorised personnel. This even applies to staff within your company. For example, an accountant may have every right to access your financial documents, but a high-level salesperson shouldn’t, even if they have a prestigious role within your company.

WiFi

Your business WiFi can provide the perfect opening for criminals to access your data. You need to try and secure your connection so that only your employees can access it. You might also want to set up your WiFI so that it prevents even your employees from knowing the exact password. If you plan on having an open WiFi so that your customers can connect then this needs to be done on a completely separate network. Guests should never have access to the same network as your employees, because unwanted people may be able to join your network and access your data without you even knowing about it.

Shred your Papers

It may seem unlikely that someone would root through your business trash, but it happens far more than you realise. At the end of the day, it’s not a good idea to bin sensitive company information. You also need to be careful about throwing away any papers that include bank details too. Instead, you need to shred them so that nobody can access the original data.

Cyber Security Insurance

If your business handles a ton of sensitive information and you are worried about the fallout of a possible data breach, then it helps to look into cyber insurance. This is a type of insurance that will protect you in the event of something like this and it will even help you if you are ever the victim of cyber extortion too. This is when a hacker steals or locks down your files and demands money for their release.

Incident Response Plan

If you don’t have an incident response plan, then it is so important that you get one sorted out as soon as you can. You need to plan out what you’d need to do in the event of a hack, and whether it’s possible to lock down your systems. You might also want to run drills so that your team can practice what to do as well. This will help you out a lot in the event of a breach and it will also help you to feel confident in the policies that you have right now.

Of course, protecting your business doesn’t have to be difficult and by putting the work in, you will soon find that it is easier than ever for you to protect your business and everything that you have worked for.