Every business owner and manager wants to make sure that everything they have and store is safely protected from any threats that may come from outside, or even inside the organization. Since most of the data nowadays is not in a hard copy, and since almost everything we have is on our devices, we need to do everything we can to protect ourselves, our company, the clients, as well as our employees. In this article, we are going to list some of the dos and don’t’s of business cybersecurity, and how you can avoid the biggest threats, while still keeping your sensitive data secure.
1. Give your team the right training
The first, and possibly the biggest Do that you should follow is that you need to make sure that your employees are properly trained. Currently, there are a lot of courses like the Intellipaat Cyber Security course that could help them with gaining the right skills, or you can just have workshops.
Teach them as much as you can about the biggest threats, how they could appear, and what they need to do in case something like that happens. Make sure they learn more about hacking links, emails, and overall threats that could come from anywhere.
Note that you should give them the needed training when it comes to antimalware software, how they should use it, and why they need to have it turned on all the time.
2. Back up your files
The next thing you need to do is back up your files, documents, and important data. This is not only to make sure all the data is protected from outside threats, but also from mishaps and accidents. Sometimes things happen, the programs can fail, and you can lose everything you’ve worked hard for.
Note that there are different ways you can do this, and the most popular method right now is saving things on the cloud. The best thing about this is that you can access the files from pretty much anywhere and on any device. In addition to this, you will be able to put an extra layer of protection by adding passwords to your files and limiting the access of people who can open the cloud.
3. Use the right antivirus software but don’t rely only on that
The next thing you need to do is invest in the right antimalware or antivirus software. Note that in this digital era, when everyone is trying to protect their most sensitive data, there are a lot of different programs that can help you with protecting your most important files. However, when choosing the right program, you need to make sure you are using a trusted source to download and install these files, and know that sometimes, viruses can be disguised as antispy software.
On the same note, you should always have a plan B, and know that even though these programs are great to keep your business safe, they are not perfect. There are always going to be some parts that are not protected, and there is always going to be something that is missing, no matter how great the platform is. Because of this, you should never just rely on the antispy platform, and you should do your backup along with the other things on this list.
4. Do frequent audits
The audits are the most important part of this whole process, and you should never forget to do them as frequently as possible. This process will help you notice if there are any potential threats if everything is working as it is supposed to be and if there are any changes.
According to Cytelligence, this process will help you understand the strength and weaknesses of your platform and security system, they will identify and issues and vulnerable parts of your business, and they will validate the programs and software you are using to protect your organization.
5. Don’t forget to update your software
Now let’s talk about some of the don’ts in this process. You should never forget to update the platforms and the software you are using. Remember that an outdated platform is like the software is not there, and it will not do anything to protect your firm.
You will get a notification about the certification you are using, you will get information if you need to continue your subscription, and you will always get notified if the software is out of data and if you need to download and install the latest version.
Don’t ever ignore this, and remember that if you want your organization to be safe and protected, you need to keep everything up to date.
6. Don’t use the same password for everything
Another thing that you should never, ever do is use the same password for all of your accounts and platforms.
Yes, we know that remembering complex passwords and pins is difficult, but here we are talking about extremely sensitive information that should never be breached.
Use computer-generated sequences if you want to be additionally protected, as people can never be as random as the AI can be. Note that you should change these numbers at least once per month, and you should pay attention to any threats that might appear.
7. Don’t trust everyone
The last thing we are going to talk about is trusting people around you. No matter how much you think you can rely on everyone around you, and no matter how trustworthy they are, you should not share sensitive information with them.
Sometimes, they can make the mistake of accidentally sharing the data with someone else, and by that, compromising your sensitive files. Note that you should also not give full access to every member of your team, and you should use the features most of the platforms have when it comes to access. Limit the things not everyone needs to see, and always follow the advice of the cybersecurity services you collaborate with.
These are some of the things you need to pay close attention to, and you, as an owner or a manager, should try and increase your knowledge and skills that will help you protect your organization. Do as much research as possible, and don’t be afraid to collaborate with professionals that will keep your firm secure even if you don’t know what you are doing.
