According to experts, it’s not a matter of if your company is going fall victim to a cybersecurity breach, but when!

Today, both small business such as Infostream Inc and large businesses such as NASA tend to be wholly unprepared when it comes to cybersecurity.

And not only are businesses not prepared for this very real threat, cybercriminals are constantly finding new and more sophisticated methods to hack into IT infrastructures.

Therefore, it’s more important than ever to make sure that your business has the right systems in place to prevent a data breach from happening to you.

Below, we’ll go over a few simple tips to help you keep your business safe.

Upgrade Your Hardware and Software Whenever Necessary

This one is obvious. But how often should you be upgrading to new hardware and software?

Well, at the speed technology continues to advance, by the time you purchase any new piece of equipment, there are likely already new and improved versions of it hitting the market.

The unfortunate fact is that most companies can’t afford to continuously upgrade their hardware or software, even just on an annual basis. However, the good news is that if you start out with the proper components, you shouldn’t need to upgrade all that often.

There are many reputable consulting firms that can take a look at your current IT system and provide you with insight on where you can or need to upgrade.

Or, if you already have an in-house IT team, you could get them involved to start looking for areas that could be improved.

In the end, by the time a manufacturer stops running support for their product, you’re probably due for an upgrade.

Address Weak Passwords

Passwords are one of the most common tools that hackers use to gain access to a network. Therefore, the best way to avoid a data breach is to ensure your computer system is safeguarded with strong passwords.

This means requiring anyone who has access to your network to use only long passwords of between 8 and 12 characters, which contain both upper and lower case letters, symbols, and number. Passwords should never contain any personal identifying information such as a person’s names, birth date, or location.

It’s also a good idea to require passwords to be updated regularly.

Learn about password managers here.

Update Often

As we’ve already mentioned above, technology is constantly improving.

So, when a manufacturer releases a piece of software of technology, they continue to support it via downloadable updates or software patches.

In most cases, you simply choose to receive updates as soon as they are made available. However, you can also opt to be notified when a new update is made available, leaving it up to you to decide to download them or not.

Regardless, it’s still important to check frequently for updates in case you’ve missed any. In the end, when your network is kept up-to-date, you’ll have the best chances of keeping your system safe.

Employee Training

Although it’s great to have clear policies in place about your company’s network security, the best way to keep your employees behaving properly is to implement mandatory training sessions.

This gives you the opportunity to clearly explain what your company rules are, as well as what consequences there will be for breaking the rules and putting the company at risk.

In some cases, a data breach may happen not due to improper protection, but because of something avoidable such as an employee clicking on a harmful link, visiting a dangerous website, or downloading files that contain malware.

Any of these unsafe actions put your business at risk and could allow a hacker to walk right into your front door.

But by providing employee training on how to prevent cyber-attacks, you’ll have a better chance of avoiding an incident.

Read cybersecurity tips for remote employees here: https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/10/cybersecurity-tips-for-your-small-business.html

Keeping Your Business Safe

In today’s digital world, almost every business has some form of online presence.

And unfortunately, this presents cybercriminal with a way to target and potentially attack your business.

By but knowing about the risk, keeping your systems up-to-date, and ensuring that all your employees are trained properly, you’ll be able to properly plan and protect yourself from becoming the victim of a cyber-attack.