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Why Security is Vital for Small Businesses | What You Should Do About It

Cybersecurity is something that all small businesses should pay attention to. A small business is likely to use a lot of tools and opportunities from third-party companies, such as free web hosting or a helpful plug-in, but companies need to be aware of the security risks within that. Let’s take a closer look at some of the security measures that small businesses will be able to take to protect themselves, and why they should pay attention to security measures.

Laptop with google

Why Security is Vital

All small businesses need to have some good security software in place simply because a small business is more likely to have poorer protocols. A large corporation might have more interesting data and a lot more to steal, but they will most likely have their own in-house security officer too.

This means that any attacks that they face will be repelled more easily. On top of this, data breaches might be easily covered by them, so they will be able to recover from such an attack with little issue – even if something is lost.

This is often not the case with a smaller company. Having their data stolen could represent a major blow to their business and it could be something that they cannot recover from, either through the replacement of equipment or the rebuilding of trust. Small businesses do not have a choice – they must be proactive in their defence against cyber-attacks. It is not necessarily an if but more of a when. A small business will receive a cyber attack at some point and they need to make sure that they are prepared for it.

Secure Web Hosting

It is rare that a small business will host their own website through servers on their premises. Unless they themselves offer this service to customers, it is more likely that they will have their website hosted elsewhere.

Even if they opt for free website hosting over other options, they need to make sure that they are still going to receive a good level of security coverage. Ideally, you should be able to get coverage against DDoS attacks and free SSL certificates. You might not always find this with free web hosting, but you do need to make sure that you get the protection that you need and so it might be worth it to pay for any fees the hosts might request.

White cyber lock


Password Safety

You would be shocked if you knew just how many companies have lazy password protection. Not enough companies are creating strong unique passwords and are instead relying on the same combinations over and over again. It does not matter whether they are trying to access their business’s back end, upload a social media post, or log into their time tracking software – it is all done using the same password.

This is obviously not best practice, and there is a strong chance that if your password is compromised in one place then it will be compromised across the board. Within your business, you need to make sure that your passwords are unique across all services and software that you use – especially if it is to be shared between multiple employees. There are plenty of password managers and data protection tools that you can use to ensure that you are not locked out, but it is time to upgrade from the humble “password123” to something a little more sophisticated.

Password

Antivirus

Make sure that you also have a good antivirus in place on all devices within your computer. There is always the chance that something can slip past the rest of the protections you have set up. A good antivirus software will boost your cybersecurity and reduce the risk of entering risky websites or falling for a cleverly hidden phishing scam.

A cyber shield

Antiviruses can easily be installed on devices such as computers or smartphones, and they do a lot of background work to keep their devices safe, so antiviruses are pretty much necessary. Though you need to make sure that you run a full scan every now and then, you should be able to maintain a good level of protection for your business with little effort. Even a free antivirus will be able to keep you safe much more easily than nothing at all!

These are just some of the key areas that you need to focus on when it comes to protecting your business. There is no doubt about it, you need to have good cybersecurity controls in place as it is very much a “when” and not an “if” in terms of receiving an attack. 

A smaller business can really suffer when it comes under attack, but there are plenty of proactive steps you can take beforehand to ensure that yours is well-protected. Make sure that you begin to take the cybersecurity of your business seriously as soon as possible.

About Dusan Stanar

I'm the founder of VSS Monitoring. I have been both writing and working in technology in a number of roles for dozens of years and wanted to bring my experience online to make it publicly available. Visit https://www.vssmonitoring.com/about-us/ to read more about myself and the rest of the team.

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