Launching a small business is as stressful as it is exhilarating. You need to set up a business plan, develop enticing products & services, and assemble a winning team. There’s so much to do during those frantic early days that considerations like cybersecurity can slip through the cracks. And yet, protecting your new business from one of the potentially most devastating crises that can affect it should be among your top priorities.
Not sure how to make cybersecurity one of your company’s core values? Our guide will help you get the ball rolling!
Adopt a Security-Conscious Working Culture
Before discussing the specifics of hack-proofing your business, it’s crucial to establish a company culture that emphasizes the value of collective responsibility for cybersecurity. This means that employees on all levels should be aware of the risks associated with not adhering to cybersecurity best practices.
Adopting this mindset takes time and effort. You may need to change bad ingrained habits, organize cybersecurity training for employees, and develop policies that might seem harsh or restrictive at first. However, the work you collectively put in at the start will pay off, as you’ll reduce the chances of human error or malicious insider attacks, which can and often do topple otherwise seemingly impenetrable cybersecurity defenses.
Secure Your Infrastructure
Securing your file systems, networks, and devices ensures that the resources you keep on them remain protected while making it much harder for unwelcome actors to get unauthorized access. Firewalls offer excellent protection from malware threats while also controlling outbound traffic. The latter benefits employees’ own good since it prevents them from visiting suspicious sites or engaging in potentially harmful activities like peer-to-peer sharing.
Ideally, the devices you use to conduct business should be standardized and contain only company-approved software. Discourage employees from using their devices when accessing company infrastructure and digital assets to minimize the chance of exploits and other security compromises.
Update Software Regularly
No device with internet access is completely safe from intrusion, but keeping its operating system and all installed software updated provides the best protection currently available. Updates introduce new features and patch vulnerabilities that malicious actors can’t exploit anymore.
Most software should update automatically, but it’s prudent to double-check. Router firmware, niche programs, and add-ons may require you to check for and apply updates manually. It’s also prudent to look for alternatives if the software you use no longer gets support.
Access Restrictions & Password Policies
While small businesses may not have enough IT staff and managers are more likely to trust employees, no one person should have unrestricted access to the company’s networks. Implement a Zero Trust policy where users have just enough privileges to access resources needed to do their work. Introduce logging to track user activity and reduce the chance of insider threats.
Passwords are easy to compromise if used improperly. Careless employees might use identical or similar ones for multiple accounts, write them down in the open, etc. Emphasize the need to have strong, complex passwords for each account. Regardless of the nature of your small business, be it a tech start-up or a nonprofit, password managers can help you set and store strong passwords. In addition, they enable secure credential sharing and set up multi-factor authentication for complete protection.
File Encryption and Backup
Proprietary tech specs, customer info, and marketing materials for upcoming campaigns are just some of the most sensitive types of information your company is likely to store. You have a moral and legal obligation to safeguard this data. Since no security setup is completely immune to threats, the next best thing is to encrypt vulnerable and valuable data. This scrambles its contents, preventing even stolen data from being useful in hackers’ hands.
Backing your data up is another necessary precaution. It’s indispensable for mitigating ransomware attacks or quickly resuming normal operations after unforeseen emergencies. Regularly maintaining these backups is essential for minimizing data loss.
Remote Work Considerations
While working remotely doesn’t necessarily impact productivity, it introduces cybersecurity risks that are harder to control than in a contained office environment. Remote employees are more likely to use their own devices and may connect to company networks from untrustworthy sources.
One way to strengthen connection security is by using a virtual private network. Activating a VPN before accessing the internet places the entire connection inside an encrypted tunnel. The employees’ IP addresses and the data they exchange with company networks become private and untraceable, preventing anyone who might be monitoring the original connection from obtaining anything of value.
Find a VPN that better suits your needs and team. To do this, you can read user/business reviews and check the famous VPN comparison table on Reddit.
Third-Party Vetting
Your company’s security might be tight, but is the same true for your partners? Your company could do everything right and still fall victim to a data breach if third-party vendors aren’t paying attention. You can control the risks by inquiring about the security policies and industry standards they adhere to. Find out if they have a history of past incidents and define their cybersecurity responsibilities when establishing contracts.
Conclusion
As if running a small business wasn’t already challenging, keeping it safe from increasingly prevalent and sophisticated cyber threats is an obligation you need to take seriously from the start. Implement our recommendations and continue investigating ways to strengthen your company’s cybersecurity to reduce the likelihood and impact of these threats.
