You hear a lot about big enterprise companies being hacked a lot. SMB’s are an attractive victim and the main reason is security. Cyber criminals know that an SMB is going to hold valuable customer data and they know the levels of security are likely to weaker than big enterprise companies. With a new business starting off, it is understandable why businesses may slack on security, but with any business that is really wanting longevity and strong reputation then IT security isn’t an area that should be brushed over. Which leads us to our first tip.
Fortifying Tip 1: Don’t underestimate.
Your customer’s data is not only valuable to you and cyber criminals know it. SMB’s are no longer the second choice and many business owners need to recognise this and prepare their security accordingly.
Prepare for high risk and coordinated attacks. Some hackers are opportunists, if you have weak IT security, they will take advantage. Plan for more aggressive hackers and this will help prevent the passive and opportunistic ones.
Fortifying Tip 2: Defend Defend
Defend your data from the outset. Every piece of business critical data on your network should be encrypted. The encryption should start as soon as possible and protect any transmissions going to and from your business. Also, don’t forget to encrypt data that is resting.
If hackers do manage to grab some data the encryption will render it unusable.
Fortifying Tip 3: Password Protection
Hackers want an easy route, they also don’t want to get caught. Complex methods like tricking anti-virus software and other systems have more risk than simply logging into someone’s account. The telegraph had a list of the most popular passwords
1 123456
2 password
4 qwerty
7 football
20 login
As you can see these passwords are by no stretch of the imagination unique or secure, in fact, most hackers will try these as default.
Enforcing a password policy with preventing repeated characters and use, have a minimum character length and enforce regular 6 months changes. The policy should be followed by every user from CEO to entry level.
Fortifying Tip 4: Help is available
If securing your data seems too big of a challenge, then don’t hesitate to ask for help. Security is an aspect of your business you can’t sweep under the rug. If you don’t have the capability to secure your network yourself then outsource or ask for help.
