How to Keep Your Organization Safe

The cybersecurity of small businesses are sometimes overlooked leaving these companies vulnerable to attacks from cyber criminals. The safeguarding of data for small businesses is not emphasized enough causing thousands of data breaches every year across the United States.  

One of the first things that small businesses should do to increase cybersecurity is to create a security-focused workplace culture. This plays an important role in allowing your employees to recognize potential threats and notify their company. If an employee is not educated on the different strategies used by cyber criminals, they may fall victim to data breaches involving techniques such as email phishing. 

Another strategy to protect your organization is to invest in cybersecurity insurance. With such a high rate of data breaches occurring in the United States, it could be a smart financial move to protect these potential losses. Also, the price tag for these data breaches can be exorbitant. In 2017, the average cost of a data breach was 3.6 million dollars averaging $141 per data record. Even with these high costs only 15% of US businesses have this type of insurance but this number will increase as companies invest more into cybersecurity.  

You should also be protecting your data by encrypting and backing up data while preventing any physical access to sensitive data. This could mean not allowing your employees to insert USB drives into sensitive laptops or servers assisting in securing the data. Also, backing up data is instrumental in the case of a cyber-attack to ensure that your company can still access the information that you need. This can help in situations where cyber criminals extort small businesses with all their information and data. Any data that includes customer information, employee information, and all business data should be backed up and secured to avoid any potential costly attacks.  

These steps are vital for small businesses to protect their company from any criminals. This month we have focused a lot on personal cybersecurity, but organizational cybersecurity is just as important. The cyber criminals of today’s age are not just attacking personal information but are attacking organizations to turn a profit for themselves one way or another. Following these preventative measures can deter cyber criminals from attempting to access your information as well as making your employees more adept at intercepting potential attacks.  

 Source:

1. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/316886