Have You Protected Your Firm Against Cyber Threats?
The tips in this webinar can keep your team and important data protected from online threats
In our increasingly digital world, technology changes rapidly. While this leads to innovation in terms of new products and services, it also can create lapses in security for people and businesses that aren’t keeping up with the latest best practices.
Small-business owners often think their business is too small to attract the attention of cybercriminals. But it’s exactly this sort of thinking that over time exposes your business to risk and makes it easier for hackers to get your information.
The Houzz webinar “10 Tips to Secure Your Business Against Cyber Threats” takes an in-depth look at why cybersecurity is paramount. The entire 25-minute presentation is below, but here are five simple preventative measures to improve your cybersecurity.
Small-business owners often think their business is too small to attract the attention of cybercriminals. But it’s exactly this sort of thinking that over time exposes your business to risk and makes it easier for hackers to get your information.
The Houzz webinar “10 Tips to Secure Your Business Against Cyber Threats” takes an in-depth look at why cybersecurity is paramount. The entire 25-minute presentation is below, but here are five simple preventative measures to improve your cybersecurity.
Preventative Measures
Luckily, there are plenty of steps you can take to guard your business and your devices from hackers:
Install antivirus software. This type of software can block malicious programs from getting onto your device and can scan for any and remove them. Many computers come with antivirus software, and there are multiple free programs available for a basic level of protection.
However, the paid versions of programs can offer additional features such as a firewall, spam filter, anti-ransomware features, parental filters, a password manager and email and banking protection. The paid programs may be more suitable for protecting your business network.
Back up business documents and information. Use a secure server or external hard drive. This way, if you do have a security breach, you can recover your files. This could mean not losing photos of past projects, spec sheets, blueprints or financial documents such as invoices, receipts and tax records.
Luckily, there are plenty of steps you can take to guard your business and your devices from hackers:
Install antivirus software. This type of software can block malicious programs from getting onto your device and can scan for any and remove them. Many computers come with antivirus software, and there are multiple free programs available for a basic level of protection.
However, the paid versions of programs can offer additional features such as a firewall, spam filter, anti-ransomware features, parental filters, a password manager and email and banking protection. The paid programs may be more suitable for protecting your business network.
Back up business documents and information. Use a secure server or external hard drive. This way, if you do have a security breach, you can recover your files. This could mean not losing photos of past projects, spec sheets, blueprints or financial documents such as invoices, receipts and tax records.
Set up strong email spam filters. The U.S. Small Business Administration recommends that people “enable strong spam filters to prevent phishing emails (an attempt to obtain sensitive information electronically) from reaching employees.” Your email service will already have a spam filter and should take care of most spam emails, but you can make it stronger by going into the settings or marking spam emails that make it to your inbox as spam — the filter gets stronger with more user feedback.
Ensure your website features Secure Socket Layer technology. SSL is a security technology on a website that protects information entered by users, such as contact and payment information, and encrypts it so it cannot be stolen by hackers. Search engines penalize websites that aren’t secure in their search result rankings, which can mean fewer visitors to unsecure sites. SSL protects both you and any potential clients who come onto your website.
Educate employees on cybersecurity best practices. Make sure all employees are using strong passwords with a variety of capitalized and uncapitalized letters, numbers and special characters. Ensure that all employees, if they ever need to browse the internet for work, stick to websites that are marked as “secure” — meaning the websites use SSL technology — and warn employees against clicking on any suspicious links.
Ensure your website features Secure Socket Layer technology. SSL is a security technology on a website that protects information entered by users, such as contact and payment information, and encrypts it so it cannot be stolen by hackers. Search engines penalize websites that aren’t secure in their search result rankings, which can mean fewer visitors to unsecure sites. SSL protects both you and any potential clients who come onto your website.
Educate employees on cybersecurity best practices. Make sure all employees are using strong passwords with a variety of capitalized and uncapitalized letters, numbers and special characters. Ensure that all employees, if they ever need to browse the internet for work, stick to websites that are marked as “secure” — meaning the websites use SSL technology — and warn employees against clicking on any suspicious links.
Watch now: Click here to watch the full webinar
Tell us: How do you manage your company’s cybersecurity? Share your security strategies in the Comments.
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Tell us: How do you manage your company’s cybersecurity? Share your security strategies in the Comments.
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So what happens if you do suffer a cyberattack? It can affect your business in a number of ways — from hurting productivity if you have to spend time removing a computer virus, to having sensitive data breached, all the way to having your funds stolen.
“Once, someone had hijacked an older website and we were unable to access it. The last time we had a cyberattack, my laptop was unable to work completely and the hard drive had to be replaced,” George Ocampo of GO Designs says. “Since then I have hired a security provider who views any issues that arise and pretty much handles any situation, minor or major, and advises me of any known scams. We pretty much run our business completely on computers for our design and construction design side of the business. If the computers are down, so are we.”