Don’t Gamble With Your Businesses’ Security

The 2021 COVID & Cybersecurity Study carried out by the company SecureAge has revealed that almost half of UK businesses experienced a cyber breach during the pandemic. It is not a question of IF your business is attacked but of WHEN.

Is your business cyber secure?

We’ve compiled a list of security points that you need to be aware of to help keep your company safe.

10 Cyber Security Pointers To Help Protect Your Business:

1: Backups

2: Updates

3: Anti-Virus

4: Firewall

5: Passwords

6: Encryption

7: Network

8: WFH/VPN

9: Reviews

10:Training

Backups:

How often do you backup? Where is that backup going? Who is responsible? Do you have one backup or backups of your backups? Do you know if they are working? Do you know how to access the data on the backups when you need it?

Updates:

Do you follow the prompts to update your computers and software when asked? Or do you leave it, as these things tend to pop up at the most inconvenient times? Do you update your website to the latest version, and all periphery plugins? Are you on the latest versions of all within your IT setup?

Antivirus:

You have this installed, of course you do. But is it good enough? Does your antivirus offer business standard protection? Do you have it installed on every device – even phones and tablets that require it? As above, is it up to date, you’re running the current version? Are you sure that it is working correctly?

Firewall:

Do you have this as well as your Antivirus? Is your Firewall still using the “default” configuration, or has your IT specialist ensured that the settings are sufficient for your needs? Are you sure that your Antivirus and your Firewall are the most complimentary versions to work alongside each other?

Passwords:

Does your company have a password hygiene policy? Do you have different passwords across the board or use the same default one wherever possible? Have you changed the passwords on all IT? Do you log into your website with the username Admin? Do your staff know the passwords for all computers/software programs? Do you change your passwords on a regular basis? Have you set up 2FA wherever possible?

Encryption:

Is all of your data encrypted? Have you set up Admin rights across your company? Or can anybody within your business download/access anything they want? Is it possible that an employee could accidentally download a malicious program, or have you set permission levels to prevent this from happening?

Network:

Is your WiFi protected? Encrypted? Who can log on to your network? Have you changed the passwords on your routers? If you have visitors to your workplace, are they given permission to access your WiFi? Can you connect to your network from outside your offices?

WFH/VPN:

If your employees work outside of the office, how secure are they? Are they using a VPN to access company data? Can they access anything they want from wherever they want? Are they using their own, personal devices when working from home? Their own mobile phones, laptops, home-internet?

Reviews:

When was the last time that you reviewed your company’s security procedures/set up? And when is the next time that you plan to review these? Who is responsible for checking your security processes? How are any findings reported/addressed?

Training:

Do you provide everybody within your organisation with regular security training? Do all employees know of common security threats? Is there a procedure in place for training new staff? Is everybody aware of the latest threats and do they know what they need to do if they suspect there is an issue?

There is no 100% fail-safe guarantee to ensure that you are watertight in your business security procedures, but there are ways to ensure that you are as protected as you possibly can be. By following our 10 cyber security pointers and making your business as cyber secure as you can, you are also mitigating the worst-case scenario should you still fall foul to an attack.

Cyber Insurance alone won’t cover you if the Insurance Company see’s gaping holes in your security procedures. You could potentially lose all of your company data if you suffer a breach and haven’t got systems in place. You will be in line for a fine from the ICO. And, if the breach is severe enough, you could potentially lose your entire business….