How to Protect Your Business From Cyber Crime
This article from Wade Harman is an imprtant departure from our usual content. He discusses cyber crime, including website and email security. Yes, these things are important for small businesses also! More cautionary reading, and another in our “Great Articles You may have missed” series.
How Can Cyber Crime Affect Your Business?
Security is bound to be a company’s primary concern. After all, a breach can not only have significant consequences for the business, but it can pose a threat to customers, clients and employees.
Unfortunately, there are hackers who have made a career out of stealing, destroying or holding data to ransom for their own financial gain. Unfortunately, if a company fails to have the effective security measures in place, there is no reason why it will not become a cybercriminal’s next victim.
We are therefore looking at the importance of company security and how you can protect your business.
The Biggest Online Threats to a Business
One of the biggest threats to your business is a ransomware attack, which is believed to be a billion-dollar business for cybercriminals.
If you haven’t heard of ransomware, it is a computer attack that gains control of a system and holds data to ransom to extort money from organizations. Unfortunately, more ransomware innovations are likely to take place in 2017 and beyond, with many financial firms becoming a target for attackers.
Another significant threat to a company is a Business Email Compromise (BEC). Intelligent cybercriminals have created scam emails that appear to have been sent by the CEO, in an attempt to trick a member of a finance or accounts department to transfer funds to a bank account, which is owned by the cybercriminal.
Microsoft Office 365
With many security threats posing a risk to a company’s infrastructure, it is unsurprising that many organizations are turning to the cloud. Instead of storing valuable informative on an in-house computer or server, all your sensitive data can now be safely stored in the cloud, which you can access on any device, anywhere in the world, which can provide a heightened level of security protection against cybercrime.
Encrypted Email Outlook
Any business sending sensitive data over an untrusted network could risk their information being intercepted by eavesdroppers.
So, the internet can pose a risk to your data security, if left unprotected. It is, therefore, advisable to consider document and email encryption. Also take advantage of improved Office 365 email archiving. This will also improve redundancy levels. Bytes.co.uk can provide a range of third-party tools to support your Office 365 environment.
You benefit from encryption that will only allow authorized recipients to access the information. At the same time, you can also protect your business against malware or infection threats with an endpoint security solution. This will allow you to stop hackers in their tracks.
Backup Services
Every organization must backup their website and Data, or they will fail to meet their compliance requirements. It is, therefore, advisable to have a backup and disaster and recovery solution in place. These services encrypt data when both stored and sent. You will have the peace of mind knowing you can restore your data when needed. This is essential if you experience a ransomware attack.
So, if you want to tighten and heighten your security measures, it is worth considering moving to the cloud, while using supportive third-party tools.
Also be sure to develop an internal data security policy, to provide internal education on these essential matters. Done right, it will lessen your business’s vulnerability to a cyberattack.
Over To You
Have you or a company you’ve worked for ever been the subject of a cyber attack? What measures do you or your employer take to make their business safer? Please share in the comments below.
Wade Harman: Head Honcho at Cornerstone Marketing
This article was originally titled “How to Protect Your Business” and was published on wadeharman.com and is republished here with permission.
Featured image: Copyright: ‘https://www.123rf.com/profile_redrockerz‘ / 123RF Stock Photo
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