A data breach will cost your business over $3 million. In other words, if you’re a small business, a data breach will promptly send you packing.

You’re probably asking, “Why would anyone come after a small business?” Hackers love small businesses because they’re easy to penetrate.

What measures are you taking to protect your business from known and yet-to-be-known cybersecurity threats? Are you just riding on luck, hoping that hackers don’t notice your business?

In the new age, a smart entrepreneur knows that beefing up their business’ cybersecurity isn’t something to debate. It has to be done.

Read on to learn how to do it.

1. Identify the Cyber Threats Your Business Faces

There are several common cyber threats. They include malware, phishing, Denial of Service, trojans, and ransomware.

While you should generally protect your business from all kinds of cyber threats, it’s not advisable to adopt a blanket approach. You should start by identifying the threats that pose the biggest risk to your business.

For example, if your online business collects and stores customer data, most hackers aren’t going to focus on infecting your computers just to disrupt your operations. They’ll aim at your data; to steal it and possibly hold you at ransom.

When you’ve properly identified the cyber threats your business faces and categorized their threat level, you’ll be in a better position to deploy the right preventative measures.

2. Have a Cybersecurity Pro on Your Team

Identifying and categorizing cyber threats isn’t a layman’s task.

If you don’t have any cybersecurity training, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to correctly identify cyber threats. Don’t worry, though. Most entrepreneurs don’t know zilch about cybersecurity issues.

This is why you need to hire a cybersecurity pro. This professional will audit your business’ systems and processes, identify threats, and develop an effective cybersecurity strategy.

What if your business is running on a shoestring budget and thus unable to afford an in-house cybersecurity professional? Outsourcing is always a cheaper option.

However, there are thousands of outsourcing service providers, so you’ve got to do some research in order to find a provider who suits your needs. An ideal strategy is to focus on providers who specialize in certain industries. If you’re a law firm, for example, go for companies that offer IT services for law firms.

That being said, don’t rely on IT outsourcing forever. While outsourcing is cost-effective and gets the job done, as your business grows you’ll need to develop an in-house IT team. An in-house pro is best placed to identify your business’ changing IT needs and recommend the right actions.

3. Train Your Employees

Your cybersecurity arsenal will only be effective if your employees know how to make the most of it. You might be having the toughest firewall, but if an untrained employee mistakenly turns it off enabling hackers to gain a free route, your investment would have gone to waste.

Giving your employees adequate cybersecurity training is essential. Most small businesses cut corners on employee training because of the high costs involved, but consider what’s at stake. Would you rather not invest $20,000 on employee training but enhance your business’ risk of a $3 million data breach?

What’s more, employee cybersecurity training doesn’t have to be expensive. There are free online resources you can print out and ask them to read. You can also organize in-house workshops, where a specialist can train your employees in small groups.

Employee training isn’t a one-off event. Since cyber threats are always evolving, only regular training will help ensure your employees are well-equipped to protect your business.

4. Develop Organizational Policies That Support Cybersecurity

You can train a person as much as you want, but sometimes it’s all about personal choice when it comes to doing what they’re trained to do.

Case in point:

An employee who knows that accessing the organization’s systems using an open network is not recommended, but goes ahead and does it anyway.

You cannot monitor your employees’ actions all the time and ensure they’re doing the right thing, but you can create policies that “force” them to do the right thing.

For instance, you can make it company policy for employees to change their passwords every week. Whoever violates this policy could face some consequences, such as system restrictions. As a business owner, you’re within your rights to enforce such a policy.

If your business doesn’t have any IT policies, now is the best time to start developing them. Your in-house IT specialist or outsourcing partners will help you develop effective policies that will go a long way in protecting your business against cyber threats.

5. Get the Basics Right

At the end of the day, the big stuff won’t make much difference is you aren’t doing the small stuff.

You know, stuff like creating strong passwords on your personal and business emails, as well as on wireless networks.

You see that software update notification you’re getting on your computer? It’s not something you should be postponing for a later time. It could be a critical security patch that needs to be installed right away. Keep ignoring it and you’ll find hackers camping in your systems.

Backup your data. We can’t stress this enough.

Should a data breach occur, you’ll retrieve the backups and keep your operations going. There are plenty of data backup options, so be sure to explore them and find a good fit.

Thwart Those Cyber Security Threats

Internet technologies have made our lives easier and miserable almost in equal measure. While embracing technology will take your business to the next level, you also expose it to dangerous cybersecurity threats.

But you have the power to ensure they remain just that, threats. Part of what you have to do is put the tips fleshed out above to use. The other part is to keep reading our blog for more cyber tips!