These days every business stores data of some kind on their computer systems. You don’t have to be a software company to make use of computer technology, after all. In fact, many companies, both big and small, do the majority of their marketing online and may even sell products and services online as well. Unfortunately, this also presents the challenge of keeping your company secure against potential cybercrimes.
Hackers tend to target smaller businesses because their cybersecurity is often poor. This means that unless you do not keep digital records of any sort, you’re going to need to worry about your cybersecurity, no matter what kind of business you run or how big it is. With that in mind, let’s discuss some cybersecurity best practices for your business:
1. Use Outside Help
Updating your anti-virus software and firewalls will only accomplish so much. If a data leak occurs or someone hacks into your system, it could cause serious damage that could stall your operations, result in sensitive data being used to commit fraud, corrupt your systems, and more. As you can imagine, repairing such damage can be quite costly, not to mention that you might be vulnerable to lawsuits should sensitive information that you were storing get out. As a result, it’s well worth the investment to hire a cybersecurity professional to come and perform a cybersecurity audit on your company. This will allow you to identify potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities as well as give you an idea of how you can address them.
2. Create a Cybersecurity Plan
It’s absolutely essential that you create a cybersecurity plan that everyone throughout your company is aware of. This plan should outline what cybersecurity measures you are taking as well as the proper protocol that employees should take to prevent accidental exposure to your data or your systems (many data leaks are the result of employees, whether they do it on purpose or not). Additionally, the plan should outline the process for dealing with a cyber-attack or data breach should it happen. Determine who is responsible for identifying the issue and correcting it as well as what you will need to do in terms of public relations (such as notifying customers whose data was stolen or crafting a press release if the attack was particularly significant).
3. Purchase Cybersecurity Insurance
Cybersecurity breaches can destroy smaller companies who don’t have the resources to fix the problem and deal with the public fallout of an attack. Some of the financial losses that your company might incur as a result of a cyberattack can be offset by cybersecurity insurance, which is why it’s well worth the money to invest in a cybersecurity insurance policy. Just keep in mind that most policies have very strict provisions requiring specific cybersecurity measures to be taken in order to obtain coverage.
4. Properly Destroy Old Electronic Devices
Many companies make the mistake of not having old computer systems, hard drives, fax machines, and other electronic devices that may contain sensitive data properly destroyed. Deleting data off these systems isn’t enough. Cybercriminals are capable of using special software to retrieve deleted data. As such, you need to have these electronic devices shredded by a professional data destruction service like AccuShred.
All companies can implement these cybersecurity best practices. Protecting your company data, which could include marketing and sales strategies, employee information, and customer information is critical. Should a data breach occur, the exposure of such data could irreparably damage your company’s reputation. For information about our data protection services, contact us at AccuShred today.