Today the small businesses increasingly rely upon the latest internet technologies to remain cutthroat within local and global market. However, with this they are also becoming more vulnerable to cyber criminals.
A cyber crime attack can leave catastrophic impact on the small business, which usually haven’t resources to hire an in-house team of security experts and rapidly recover from the cyber attacks. The small businesses can even unwittingly get involve in cyber crimes by using unprotected computers, of which they cyber criminals can take control and use them to launch the cyber attacks on online businesses and other financially strong institutions.
The IT infrastructure and tools alone aren’t effective in fighting the war against cyber frauds and the small businesses should adopt some technological steps to consolidate their security. The small business owners should create a “culture of security” and fetter both their customers and employees to strictly follow it.
Below are the four technological and cultural steps the small business owners must take to bolster their defense against the cyber crimes threats.
1) Identify risk and address weaknesses:
You should determine the areas most at risk by analyzing online and operating systems. For example, is the data of customer, his/her accounting information and the other highly-sensitive data is associated with internet? Additionally, it should be ensured that the anti-spyware programs, updated anti-virus programs and firewalls are installed on all nodes. Also, peg down the employees to change their passwords once within two months.
2) Back-up critical data:
Make a schedule to take the critical data backup on a regular basis. The regular creation of back-ups ensures that the data isn’t lost in case of cyber attack or an accident. Store all the data back-up copies somewhere from where they can be easily recovered when required.
3) Educate employees
Give the awareness to your employees and customers about cyber frauds and demonstrate them measure to prevent these attacks. Incorporate a cyber security rollout plan within the annual business plan, which should also include the steps for examining the success.
4) Security agreement
Fetter the employees to sign a security agreement to show that they are active participants to help make internet a secure place. The employees should also be directed to report any malicious activity to the relevant authorities, such as local law enforcement agencies, the local Federal Bureau of Investigation, or secret services.
