Cyber-attacks, especially on small businesses, have surged in recent years due to the heavy increase in online shopping, communication, and stored information. With 2022 marketing trends pointing towards all things virtual, now more than ever small businesses need to pay attention to how cyber-attackers can potentially use this information against them.

Limit Cybersecurity Threats in Your Business

The best way to defend your business is to protect yourself before the threat reaches you, and to take steps to prevent an attack. There are many easy ways to ensure the safety of your business’s information:

Data Minimization

• Are you storing information from years ago, even if the data is outdated and no longer needed? An integral part of keeping your business secure is limiting what information you are collecting and storing. Set a limit: how long do you need to store this information? If it is past its expiration date, get rid of it.

Risk Assessments

• It’s important to identify, understand, and evaluate potential risks in your business to ensure smooth operations. This includes taking stock of where customer, employee, and other private information is stored and who has access to it. Regular risk assessments can prevent leaks of sensitive information, one step closer to protecting your business from a cybersecurity threat.

Employee Training

• Not all data breaches are organized and sophisticated, in fact, many are phone calls or emails pretending to be someone else and asking to confirm your information. A simple way to prevent these types of scams is to engage in phishing training for employees to help them look out for suspicious activity. And, if they’re not sure, not engaging with the email/phone call is the best route.

Incident Response Plan

• Your team should be on the same page when it comes to dealing with cybersecurity incidents, so creating a structured incident response plan will not only help protect sensitive data but also reduce costs associated with defending against attacks. There are many templates to follow, or examples like Carnegie Mellon University and Tulane University to help your organization plan for cybersecurity threats.

How to Protect Yourself When Working from Home

In this remote environment, we pass along sensitive information to our coworkers, customers, and clients via the internet all the time. Therefore, taking the time to ensure your security can be the key to keeping your information safe. Here are some tips:

• Make sure your home network/internet connection is secure
• Keep software up to date
• Get anti-virus software
• Use multi-factor authentication
• Don’t open suspicious emails/links
• Keep track of your devices (phone, laptop, tablet, etc.)

How to Protect Your Business on Social Media

Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. are a great way to market your business, but also come with more cybersecurity risks.

• Choose a strong password and change it regularly
• Implement privacy settings
• Recognize phishing through comments, direct messages, etc. and don’t engage
• Don’t overshare confidential information
• Limit the number of people who have access to your accounts

88% of small business owners feel vulnerable to a cyber-attack on their business. If that’s you, then it’s time to protect you and your business from potential threats. A good place to start is to look into cyber security liability insurance to prevent costly losses from an attack. In addition, take the necessary precautions to limit the risk of a security breach, and, if you experience fraud or a cybersecurity attack, report it at ftc.gov.

 

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