How to Improve Your Company’s Cybersecurity

Your Business Cybersecurity is important and protecting your company and client information should be a priority for your business. Client confidence lies largely in their trust that you are holding their buyer information securely, and your confidence lies largely in the functionality of your business’s online presence and organization. To improve your company’s cybersecurity, make sure you regularly update your systems, look for ways to improve prevention methods and consider your employee’s technological resources.

Update Your Systems

Technology is constantly evolving to innovations. This also means, unfortunately, that hackers are constantly finding new ways to penetrate security measures. Cybersecurity platforms usually release an update to their software a couple of times per year, each update providing new measures for fighting those hacks and strengthening those protective walls. By installing these updates quickly, your systems will remain up to date on the latest in secure, precautionary moderation of your company’s online network. In addition to these updates, run a diagnostic on your systems every few months to check for “bugs” that have gotten through the cracks between updates, and take care of any minor repairs so that they don’t turn into major ones!

Improve Prevention Methods

Those “major” problems are much more likely to develop if you do not maintain and even improve prevention methods. IT consultants can provide preventative maintenance for your business before major problems occur, saving you the stress of repairs later while your company is up and running. Any big repairs may slow down or impede progress for your work, which will reflect poorly on your productivity. Another preventative step is implementing encryption as soon as possible. Encryption puts your information or text through a code with a single access key, scrambling and reformatting it to be unreadable to anyone without that key. This is a basic source of immediate protection for your cyber information.

Consider Employee Resources

This is probably the most important thing you can do for your cybersecurity. Most employees probably don’t think much about how they might be compromising their company’s cybersecurity.

Some companies—especially with the recent surge in “work at home”—allow their employees to use their devices (computers, tablets, phones) for work. While this may save some money on technology ownership of your company upfront, it also means that you will have a huge number of computers to keep track of cybersecurity issues. Home networks may not be as safe as your workplace, making it easier for hackers to access that information. If this is a concern for you, consider supplying computers that you are confident have all the tools and preventative measures installed, so that your information remains safe wherever it is accessed.

Here are some basic things every employee should do to keep company data safe. Make sure all employees know:

• To never share their passwords
• Use two-step verification for work computer log-in and all relevant business software log-in
• Change your password at least once every 3 months
• Don’t open unexpected emails from strangers
• Especially don’t open an email with an unexpected attachment. Even if the attachment is from a co-worker, confirm they really sent it before downloading.
• Keep backups of all work. Store that backup in a different data storage unit than where the original is housed.
• Back up your data as often as possible.
• Update virus software.
• Stay off of potentially dangerous sites. Always beware of warnings.
• Do not stream or download anything on your work computer unless you’re sure the source is legitimate and secure.
• Avoid unsecured websites whenever possible.
• Turn off work computers before leaving at the end of the day.
• Know where data is kept. Immediately report any misplaced or missing data.
• Do not share company hardware or software with outside people.

Keep your and your client’s information safe from potential threats through some increased attention to your cybersecurity, and grant everyone some more confidence in the security of your business.

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