Businesses of all sizes are increasingly a target for cybercrime. Data protection is now enshrined in law and you have a duty to keep any customer data you hold securely. It is essential that you protect this data in order to avoid facing hefty fines and maintain the trust your customers place in your business. We’ve put together some guidance on where to start with protecting your data.
Update software regularly
Regularly updating your software is one of the best ways to be more cyber secure. If software becomes outdated it can potentially give cybercriminals access to your login details as well as sensitive business and customer information. Updating your software regularly is a time-effective way to improve your cybersecurity. Even more efficient is opting in to auto-updates on any software you use. Make sure that selecting ‘remind me later’ doesn’t come back to bite you.
Use strong passwords
Create a password policy
81% of data breaches leverage stolen or weak passwords1. Help ensure your data and devices are safe by using secure passwords. We are all aware of the importance of keeping our passwords secure, but it’s human nature to use easy-to-remember passwords, sometimes across multiple sites and software. Doing this poses a huge security risk as reusing passwords across your accounts makes all of them less safe and more vulnerable to hacking.
If you’re running a business it helps to create a password policy on a company-wide basis and ensure everyone in the organisation follows this guidance. With so many people working remotely this is more important than ever.
Use a password generator
Password generators are perfect for creating robust, unique, passwords with ease. These are especially useful if you need to regularly use new passwords. A random combination of letters, numbers and symbols is ideal. Many generators allow you to select the length of the password produced as some services reject extra-long passwords and demand special characters.
Consider using a password manager
It can be a struggle to remember multiple passwords and login details. Think about using a password manager such as LastPass or 1Password to securely store your business passwords. The password manager can work across multiple devices and allow you to share passwords with trusted persons in a more secure way – better than a post-it note!
Enable two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication (2FA) or two-step verification gives an additional layer of security to the authentication process needed to access your accounts. This additional layer of security means that even if your password is compromised it is harder for hackers to gain access to your accounts as the password alone is not enough.
Avoid phishing attacks
Advise employees on the dangers associated with poor security practices and how to spot phishing links and emails with malicious intent. You can also reduce the potential damage produced in a phishing attack by giving each staff member the lowest level of user rights needed to carry out their day-to-day tasks. This is known as the Principle of Least Privilege and helps minimise damage should a user account be compromised.
Protect your website from malware and hacking
Our CyberWarden Active Website Protection is designed to safeguard your business from cyber attacks. It detects and fixes problems before they affect your business’s reputation. We partner with Sucuri, using their proven website security platform, to protect your business with the highest levels of service and performance.
For further information on the security resources we offer read more or contact us.
1 2020 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report