Tip #1: Strengthen your passwords
This may seem like an obvious one, but how many of your passwords are exactly the same across multiple accounts? Sure, you don’t want to have to remember a long and complicated password for everything you log into, but you’re making it really easy for hackers by having the same or similar passwords across the board.
Make sure that you and your team are always using strong passwords that have a larger number of characters and contain a few different character types. It’s also a really good idea to add in two-factor authentication to your systems where you can – this requires an additional pin or verification code on top of your original password.
Tip #2: Keep your software updated
It can be a pain for your computer or mobile phone to always have updates being installed, but this is an important part of keeping your business data secure. Usually these updates will come with the latest level of technology, but they also include fixes to any security vulnerabilities that may have arisen since the last update.
It’s important to keep everything updated regularly, especially any antivirus software you may have, to keep your business security levels high. If updates don’t happen, there may be new threats that can’t be secured, so make sure that you have regular update notifications turned on and actually action them, even if it takes time.
Tip #3: Educate your team
As a business owner, you might be doing everything right in terms of protecting your small business data, but are the rest of your team following the same measures? Are they using strong passwords? Do they have access to more data than they need to? It’s not about not trusting your team, it’s about making sure that no one is vulnerable to having important business data stolen.
Initiating a workshop on good cyber-security measures with your team is a great way to make sure everyone is educated on good practices and knows the consequences of what happens if these practices are not followed. You could go over what to look for in a scam email, or how to set strong login settings and passwords. It just takes one inadvertent action to cause a chink in your business security armour, so make sure everyone knows the drill.
Tip #4: Make a plan
To ensure you’ve got your business covered, create a plan that outlines all of your important data, and what you would do in various scenarios should the security of that data be compromised. If an employee terminates their contract, make sure their access to any secure data is revoked immediately. If someone clicks a malicious link in a spam email and releases a virus into the system, outline what you would do in that instance.
Any threat to your important data could be extremely costly and debilitating to your business, so it’s important to do everything you can to mitigate the risk. This includes having an insurance policy in place that covers you should any of your data be stolen. Cyber Liability insurance is a great cover to have to protect your small business, so if you’d like to know more, get in touch with us and we can get you sorted!
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