According to an economics report, small businesses may lose up to $117,000 in a data breach. But it could add up more since a cybercrime usually takes at least three days before it can be stopped completely. So yeah, operational and financial damage of a single cyberattack can tremendously affect a company. Cyber criminals opt to target small businesses since they have a higher risk in falling into data breach since they don’t have advanced cyber security programs unlike large businesses.
There are various forms of cybercrimes, but today’s most common case is phishing. It involves criminal posing where attackers pretend to be legitimate organizations or websites in order to obtain passwords, emails, phone calls, and other sensitive information. It’s frightening how the number of phishing scams are observed everyday, records show that there are nearly 1.4 million new and and unique phishing sites created monthly. Surely, business owners must take phishing scams seriously.
So how do you defend your business against data breach?
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1. Know the most common threats
Business leaders lacking information on the basic threats of cybercrimes are most vulnerable to hackers. Therefore, you should determine these basic threats, including unauthorized access, to plan out the best cybersecurity approach.
2. Prepare for potential attacks
Sometimes, the best thing you can do for your business is to operate as if you’re expecting a cyberattack in no time. Know the whereabouts of your data and how they are being used by your team. Regularly assess your system for risks and implement multi-layered security strategy, such as privilege management.
3. Observe your employees’ behavior
Whether you’re working with a remote team or in-house employees, always look at how they manage your business data. Observe their manner of using and connecting with your network. Know how these people use security passwords and determine potential threats.
4. Establish an off-boarding policy
With a robust off-boarding policy, it can help mitigate the risks of cybersecurity threats when your employees leave. Typically, off-boarding may include returning mobile devices, company credit cards, laptops, and ID badges. Also, don’t forget to change passwords and delete email addresses if no encryption is performed.
5. Do not depend your security strategy on ad-hoc processes
The most important thing you need to consider is that, security relies on knowledge. You should know where threats may come from and integrate the most applicable security policies.
Audit your network using a system and build an all-encompassing summary of your software and hardware. Then implement your security strategies based on the auditing results. This is where you can also get the process your business needs in order to reduce threats.
Business owners could also consider investing on their employees in a cyber security training course. Increasing their knowledge and awareness about security could help decrease the probability of your employees in falling into different cybercrimes. The growth of technology also helps in making trainings accessible online as many are not able to attend in a physical lecture hall due to other priorities. You can find various cyber security training courses that could be a perfect fit to your employees and business needs.
Knowing the steps in protecting your business data from cyber attacks can help you have a peace of mind. But just in case a cyber attack happens and data breach has been observed, it’s important to take all the information necessary on how the attack happened and what the vulnerable points are to ensure that your business can prevent future data losses. Nevertheless, prevention is always better. You must take action now rather than waiting for a data breach to happen before you make a move.
So how are you planning to defend your business from potential data breach?
