Having the right security measures in place will help to keep your business safer from both internal and external threats. When so much of the business world is focused on the digital, it is vital that you have some awareness of how vulnerable your systems and accounts might be. Failing to adopt a more secure mindset will leave you open to threats, and those could have some long-term effects on your ability to trade. Some of the key steps you need to take in order to build a more security-aware business might seem basic, but when there are estimates that SMEs lose up to $80k a year due to cyber attacks, failing to address your own weak spots could end up costing you more than just your reputation.
Updates and Upgrades
The exploitation of software is one of the most common methods for cybercriminals to gain access to a system. There are several ways to tackle this, but you should prioritize ensuring that your software and hardware is always kept stronger with the latest updates. Often, these have been designed with a specific new threat in mind and can be a big boost to your online security.
Encrypt Everything
By making use of encryption, you make it much more difficult for those without permission to access or view your stored data. Encryption should always be a priority when it comes to any data that is being sent over a shared network or through standard online channels. Both workstations and devices should be updated to include encryption.
Reduce Application Risk Exposure
You need to minimize and fine-tune the attack surface of your internally developed applications. If you’re using containers, you should explore ways of hardening your container environment and adding additional security capabilities on top of the built-in features. Containers use a micro segmentation architecture to break up an application into “containers” and by using container security recommendations, you will build a much more secure business application.
Keep Records
Any suspicious activity should be recorded and logged. Those records should then be gone through for thorough evaluation. If there have been any security incidents, be they accidental or intentional, the more that you know then, the easier they are to prevent from occurring again. If you understand how your systems have been compromised, the easier you will be able to build a robust defense.
Educate Employees
Unfortunately, the vast majority of digital security threats come from your own team. This is often more due to negligence than any malicious intent, but the consequences remain just as damaging. Having regular meetings to discuss digital security and online best practices will help reinforce the need to for better online safety, and can be used to highlight the latest threats and scams so that your team is less likely to to be taken by surprise.
BYOD Issues
With so many businesses implementing a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy, there are clear advantages to letting employees get to work on the devices that they are most familiar with. It can be a challenging area to perfect when it comes to security, and if you’re making use of a BYOD culture, then you need to implement the best security practices to ensure that employee devices are not a door for cybercriminals to use that will give them access to business accounts and customer data.
Online security is imperative, but it doesn’t have to be hard. These simple steps will make your business considerably safer and will make you much less vulnerable to threats. If you want your business to thrive well into the future, then the more time that you spend on your digital security, the safer your company will be.
