Small-Business Cybersecurity 101: Important Tips for Entrepreneurs

Photo by rupixen.com on Unsplash

Did you know that in 2020, small businesses made up 28 percent of cybersecurity incidents that happened across the United States? These dangerous incidents have not only increased in frequency over the years, but they are also impacting small businesses more and more. What do you need to know about small-business cybersecurity? How can you protect yourself?

Why is cybersecurity important?

As of 2019, data breaches cost small companies around $200k per incident, and that number continues to rise. The fact of the matter is that small business can’t afford to let “the big one” happen — many companies would have to shutter their windows if an incident were to occur.

The threat landscape for small businesses changes every day. Especially as more companies sent their employees to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, endpoint security was pushed into stark relief as becoming one of the most important aspects of a company’s security posture. With company laptops being used on personal home networks, and people being connected simply through a screen instead of seeing each other face-to-face, malicious actors took advantage of the situation — nearly 36 billion records were exposed throughout the year.

What can you do?

1. Small business owners should take steps now to protect their systems, instead of waiting until it’s too late. It’s relatively simple to put some precautions in place now, versus paying the price later if your systems are compromised.  Learn how to protect yourself from phishing scams and business email compromise (BEC) hacking attempts. As your business grows and you gain employees, train them to spot scams as well. Essentially, remember that you shouldn’t share sensitive information via email, check the grammar in any “phishy” messages you get, and check the domain of the sender by hovering over the ‘from’ box in the email.

2. Have a disaster recovery (DR) plan. If you are hit with a cyber-attack, you need to make sure you have a backup of your data, for one. The right DR plan will be easy to implement, flexible, affordable, and secure. Working with a managed services provider would offer you the expertise you need so you can breathe easily. Whatever solution you choose, Commvault recommends having the ability to view and manage your data through a single interface — and make sure you frequently test your plan. (Because any good plan should be tested and retested often to gauge its effectiveness.)

3. Update your systems. Updates to operating systems and regular patching often carry security updates that correct flaws that have been discovered in your OS. Therefore, it’s critical to make sure your systems are up-to-date with the latest software.

4. Secure your company Wi-Fi network. Set your router so that it is password protected and encrypted and encourage your employees to do the same.

5. Use two-factor authentication to access company machines. Enabling two-factor authentication is one of the most important things any company or individual can do to combat the spread of hackers. By requiring a second factor to log in to resources (in addition to a password, you may be asked to generate a random code), it strengthens security and keeps malicious actors out of your systems.

Protect your site and keep customers safe.

With a little bit of attention, a little bit of elbow grease, and a lot of precaution, your small business can be protected against the threat of a cyber-attack. For more information about running your small business and making sure you’re getting the most out of your website security, protect your site, and keep customers safe, visit HomeOfficeXpert.com.

Related Content: Using Free Email Accounts for Business (Podcast: Morning Joe with Gibrón) 

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Tech Investments You Can’t Afford Not to Make: Advice for Small Businesses

It’s an exciting new age for small businesses. There’s a wealth of affordable technology on the market designed to help draw customers to your website, simplify the transacting of business, and keep those transactions safe and secure. If you’re a small business owner, you know that your success depends on being smart with every single investment. That makes it all the more important to find tech advances that can transform your business into a desirable, safe, and convenient way for your customers to shop. 

Security

There’s little doubt that data security technology is one of the most important tech investments you can make. It involves nothing less than gaining the confidence of your clientele and the protection of customers’ sensitive financial information. Small businesses that don’t secure themselves and their customers run the risk of being branded as irresponsible companies concerned only with maximizing profit by skimping on important technology. If you think data crime couldn’t happen to you, ask Target, Yahoo, and JP Morgan Chase — big companies that thought they had properly secured very sensitive data and information. 

Emphasize Mobility

Giving customers a responsive and engaging website is a must these days, but it’s still not enough. In fact, you also have to ensure that your site is mobile-friendly because more than 50 percent of web traffic comes from smartphones, which means your small business must be savvy about mobile technology, including websites, payment apps, and any details that make it easy for a mobile device to interact with your online storefront/website. Many content management systems provide mobile-compatible technology that businesses can use to construct customized websites that look great but don’t cost an arm and a leg. 

A Dynamic Website

Small businesses need to attract, impress and retain clients in order to succeed. Winning people over means you need a dynamic and captivating website. One of the best investments you’ll make is to hire a brilliant freelance JavaScript developer. As Upwork explains, skilled JS developers are fluent in different back-end technologies and have plenty of experience with build tools like Bower and Grunt. An effective application of JavaScript can make your website really pop. What’s more, your site will be much more mobile-friendly, which is an essential factor in pulling in customers who prefer to use their mobile devices to shop. JavaScript will keep customers coming back for a great shopping experience. 

Marketing Automation

Integrating your marketing outreach activities with your company’s technology is one of the most efficient ways to promote small businesses. Customer relationship management software allows you to communicate with customers and grow relationships without a lot of wasteful effort and, even better, without spending needlessly on tactics that might or might not work. 

As a small business owner, it’s important to maximize every investment you make in your company, and that’s where marketing automation can help. It’s a smart technology that makes it easy to reach the right prospects at the right time, as well as provide customers with what they want based on their purchase history and shopping habits. Chatbots and automated social media marketing are good examples of affordable, technologically advanced marketing tools. 

Tech-Based Team Collaboration

If you have a large team to manage or an entirely virtual workforce, a team collaboration tool can help you work more efficiently and effectively. Collaboration tools combine communication and project management and reduce the likelihood that an important task will fall through the cracks. Sococo, for example, is a powerful online collaboration platform for meeting, messaging, and coordinating work, and Adobe Connect is a great way to hold interactive virtual meetings that can even be played back if someone missed something important. 

Small businesses are under a lot of pressure to make the right decision at every turn. That’s very hard to do, but there are technology resources that can make everyone productive and position your company for success — and there are many that won’t stress your budget.

Image courtesy of Pixabay