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Unequivocally, technology is evolving at a rapid pace. With the advent of the Internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), smart devices, and many other modern technologies, cybersecurity has come under a cloud of concern!!
This is the time when several organizations confront cyber-attacks almost daily.
According to a study by experts, cyber breaches cost businesses more than $2 trillion in 2019. These losses are not just the ransom amount paid to the hackers, but also involves many repairs, fines, and the costs associated with a loss of business reputation and clientele.
If you believe that data breach is just a concern of big businesses, you’re wrong!
In fact, 81 percent of all data breaches happen to mid-sized and small businesses.
Wondering about who’s the culprit? That’s the lack of cyber security solutions.
Typically, small business owners believe that an attacker will bypass their organization because of its size, thus, they ignore the risk of cyber breach and don’t invest in critical cyber security solutions. In this way, they make the attacker’s job of getting into their internal systems, a lot easier, which result into huge damage.
A successful cyber-attack can cause major damage to your business. It can affect your bottom line, as well as your business’ standing and consumer trust. The impact of a security breach can be broadly divided into three categories: financial, reputational and legal.
So, no matter what the size of your business is, it becomes imperative for you to consider necessary steps to protect your business from data breach.
Let’s dive into some important cyber security tips that help you to protect your small business from cyber crime.
Safeguard Your Hardware
Today, businesses focus more on software security and overlook the hardware. However, the hardware security is equally important as the software security. Theft or loss of hardware devices is a major risk. You can protect your hardware devices with complicated and strong passwords. In fact, you can use password managers like 1Password, Bitwarden or LastPass. If you don’t want to invest in password manager tools, then try some password management tips, but never save passwords on internet or in any other accessible place. You can also add biometric scanner to limit the access.
Update Software Regularly
In order to maintain cyber security, it’s crucial to keep all the software updated. Old versions may have loopholes that can be utilized by cyber criminals to enter into your internal networks and cause a huge amount of damage to your business.
So, it’s crucial to keep updating all the software regularly. Conduct regular checks on software updates and new security patches, and install them timely. Updated software protect your sensitive business information from cyber-criminals.
Train Your Staff about Cyber Security
Employee mistake is one of the most common causes of a data breach in any business. Many employees fail to recognize the cyber threat, and put your entire business network at risk. Always remember that untrained employees unknowingly become strongest opportunity for cyber attackers and the weakest point for the security of your organization.
Thus, it’s imperative to train your staff for cyber security. Educate them about the risk of threats and basic safety measures.
In The Nutshell!
Certainly, cyber security crimes are on the rise!
Cyber-attacks can cripple your business, hamper your reputation, and may cost you millions of dollars in lost sales or damages.
Thus, it’s time to get serious about cyber-attacks, and follow some crucial methods to protect your business from cyber threats.
Author Bio:
Sachin Agrawal is an Enterprise Architect and heads up Business & Technology at Tarika Technologies. He carries expertise and a flair for writing on Management Consulting, Software & Analytics and Digital Media. Apart from distilling his technical ideas into creating innovative solutions, he is a practitioner of Haidong Gumdo and at his leisure, taps the Cajon and strums his Guitar!
