You lock your business’s doors at night and tuck excess money securely away in the safe. These are standard safety precautions your business takes every day. These practices are second nature, you rarely give them a thought. However, can you say the same about your cybersecurity? If your answer isn’t an immediate yes, you’re not alone.
Only around 53% of organizations are prioritizing enhanced cybersecurity measures. Even with the number of cyberattacks increasing at an almost daily rate, not every business has robust measures in place. So, what are the best practices in preventing cyberattacks? We’ll take a look at four simple practices you can easily implement at your business.
Best Cybersecurity Practices for Businesses
So, what are the best cybersecurity practices for businesses? Here’s a look at four you should plan on implementing.
Multifactor Authentication
Chances are you’re at least familiar with multifactor or two-factor authentication. If not, it’s pretty simple to understand. Multifactor authentication simply requires an extra identity verification step to access an application.
If you’re using a banking app, you’re already familiar with the process. To access your bank account, you need to input both a username and password. Even social media accounts use a two-factor authentication process.
The goal of multi-factor authentication is to ensure you are who you claim to be. You can follow the same route as a bank or social media site, you know the username and password. However, if your business is dealing with personal protected information (PPI), you probably want to use more robust protocols. Remember, the fines and penalties for unauthorized access can be steep.
Using face ID or fingerprint verification along with a password or username gives you another layer of security that’s harder for hackers to break. Go ahead and require two-factor authentication across all of your applications. This way it becomes a habit, similar to locking your doors at night.
Don’t Ignore Software Updates
Yes, pausing work to run a software update is annoying and time-consuming. You may be well into your work groove when the update prompt suddenly appears. Ignoring the prompt is easy. After all, you can always schedule the update for another time. However, this can place your information and systems at risk for a cyberattack.
Software updates are a vital necessity. These updates do more than ensure the software is responsive and running smoothly. The updates also fix potential vulnerabilities in the software. Hackers search for vulnerabilities and exploit them to get into your system.
Encouraging your team members to pay attention to these updates isn’t always easy. However, it’s an easy way to help ensure your software applications are ready to fend off most cyberattacks. Best of all, most updates are free with the purchase of the software.
Don’t Randomly Click on Links
Chances are you and your team constantly receive unsolicited emails. Even some web pages can be suspicious. While even a decent cybersecurity program can detect a lot of these potentially risky links, some will get by. This means there’s probably a dangerous link waiting for someone to click on in your inbox.
Sometimes the email may claim a cyberattack is occurring and your personal information is necessary to resolve the situation. Commonly known as a phishing scheme, hackers are trying to access your data.
The best way of preventing phishing is to avoid clicking on any suspicious or unsolicited links. Think of it this way if the link or email seems fishy it probably is. Training your staff to ignore these links is the best way to prevent becoming a victim.
Pay Attention to Password Strength
If you use the same password for everyone on your team, you’re placing your information at risk. Even if the password is rated excellent, you still don’t want to use the same one for everyone. Everyone on your team should have an individual password. The passwords should also meet a few basic requirements.
All passwords should contain around 16 characters. This includes letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. The password should also contain a mix of capital and lowercase letters. The idea is to make the password impossible to randomly guess. Everyone should have a unique password and you may even want to use one that’s randomly generated.
Get Everyone Onboard
As the company owner and/or manager, it’s up to you to set a great example. This means updating software, using multi-factor authentication, avoiding suspicious links, and always using strong passwords.
When your team notices you’re following the best cybersecurity practices, they’re more likely to follow suit. Before long, cybersecurity will become as automatic as locking the doors at night.
