Cyberthreat has compelled IT security professionals to create strong defences against it. If we talk about the last five years in IT industry, then the successful cyber-attacks are increasingly day by day. With evolving technology and unawareness or ignorance of employees and organizations has given ample of ground to this cyber culprit.
Consider all the eye-opening statistics mentioned below:
The statistics below show the frequency of successful attacks by year.
Going by these alarming statistics, it is safe to say that your small business website’s security should be a major concern.
But some business owners aren’t quite sure how to tighten the security, and some don’t care until their site has been compromised.
Here are 8 tips to help small business owners navigate the world of cyber threats:
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Install an SSL certificate
Installing the SSL Certificate will ensure that the data between your browser and server is transmitted securely in an encrypted connection (HTTPS). It means, when a customer types in their personal information, no one will get a hint of that valuable info.
Search engines like Google use HTTPS as a ranking signal to emphasize the value of maintaining a secure site. And browsers such as chrome mark your site as “not secure” if you don’t switch your site to HTTPS.
You can get an SSL certificate for your small business website via a third-party certificate authority even, you can contact different SSL resellers like SSL2BUY.COM for cheap price SSL certificate.
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Update your antivirus software
Installing antivirus software and keeping it updated will help to boost your small business network security. We recommend to use Kaspersky antivirus that is designed to protect users from malware and is primarily designed for computers running Microsoft Windows and macOS. Some of the features you can look for in good antivirus software are:
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- Malware detection and removal
- PC maintenance features
- Powerful firewall
- Virus clean-up mode/Virtual sandbox
- Identity protection
- Back-up
- Email protection
- Social media protection
Make sure to enable automatic virus definition updates.
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Generate hard to guess password
A password of five characters can be guessed in just 10 seconds. However, it will take a hacker approximately 811 trillion guesses to come up with a 14-character password. As per the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the easiest password to guess, “123456” was the most hacked password. Don’t leave your doors open for hackers to easily come in and compromise your site.
One statistic points out that 48 percent of data security breaches are caused by acts of malicious intent and human error or system failure account for the rest.
Want help to create a strong password? Follow the tips provided by Google on how to choose a strong password.
Also, don’t reuse your password. As per RSA Data Privacy & Security Survey 2019, up to 73% of users reuse passwords across their online accounts, which increases the risk of password theft and credential misuse.
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Be cautious of the login privileges
It is a simple step yet a great way to improve your website security. If your login remains valid for many days, even when you are not using your site, it poses a risk to your customer data and your business.
It is better to log in multiple times per day than to have the wrong person get logged in. You can also limit the number of log-in attempts to protect your site against brute force attacks.
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Use Wi-Fi with caution
A Wi-Fi router usually transmits the SSID at regular intervals for people to connect to the network. This feature is designed for businesses keeping customers in mind who might roam in and out of range. Need wide Wi-Fi coverage? Check out this asus rt-ac68u.
If you work from home, disable this feature as it will only increase the likelihood of someone attempting to log in to your home network. For those working in an office space, instead of keeping this feature on, you can provide your clients with the SSID and password to improve network security.
Also, don’t auto-connect to public Wi-Fi unless very necessary. In case of emergencies, use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to encrypt your data, enable the Always use HTTPS option to encrypt your login details, and turn off the sharing of your files and folders.
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Train employees
If you look at the stats, careless/ unaware employees amount to 34% of the vulnerabilities with the most increased risk exposure.
Even if you have technical support staff in place, employees can inadvertently cause breaches if they are not trained appropriately. Make sure that employees understand how to use company resources, and if necessary, penalties for failing to follow security protocols. Impose an understandable information security policy so your employees would be aware of what data they are allowed to access.
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Regularly back-up all your data
Even when you are using preventive measures to safeguard your business site, it is still possible to be breached.
Back-up your word processing documents, electronic spreadsheets, databases, financial files, human resources files, and accounts receivable/payable files offline. Also, make sure to back-up all data stored in the cloud.
Consider investing in an external hard drive with enough storage to back up everything. Or you can use a third-party back-up solution.
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Don’t keep sensitive pages on Google
Your website will probably have an admin page. It is better to keep the page out of public view as they point to areas of your site that hackers seek.
To do that, simply add a simple Disallow: command to your robots.txt file.
Winding-Up
As per ENISA Threat Landscape Report 2018, information theft, loss, or attack is now the prevalent type of crime against organizations, overpowering physical theft.
In this digital world, if you run a business, remember, each time you connect your device, you run the risk of being hacked. The only way to outsmart the hackers is to be aware of the evolving cybersecurity best practices and follow them.
You can’t afford to follow only a few protocols while the bad guys are constantly coming up with new ways to cause havoc.