Every year, new tips emerge about cybersecurity for your small business. But the advice for 2022 isn’t all that different from previous years. The message is still on track – to prioritise or reprioritise cybersecurity.
The latest figures from penetration testers prove that the fight is far from over. According to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021, two in five businesses (39%) report having experienced cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months.
No business is too small for cybersecurity to be a top priority. The risks are just far too great. As a small businesses owner you should consider cybersecurity developments as crucially as you do industry developments.
The growing rate of data breaches means it’s not a question of if you will be susceptible to an attack, but when. Ultimately the increase in phishing, viruses, ransomware and other cyberattacks emerging from the coronavirus pandemic means you need to take it seriously
Small businesses can be seen as soft targets. This is because they often fail to perform security audits or implement the appropriate resources to protect themselves. It’s more than just changing your passwords regularly. Hackers see small businesses as easy pickings.
Industry advice is to work on the assumption that your company will suffer a cyberattack at some stage. You need to ensure you have a policy on how to manage a security breach. It’s important to identify the risk areas – detection and response are just as important as prevention efforts.
The crux of the matter is that the effect of a cyber attack can be disastrous on your company’s bottom line. In 100% of companies analysed by Positive Technologies an insider can gain full control over the infrastructure. It makes for frightening reading.
Small Business Cybersecurity Strategies
- Spotting a phishing email
- Using good browsing practices
- Avoiding suspicious downloads
- Creating strong passwords
- Protecting sensitive customer and vendor information
- Implement multifactor authentication (MFA)
- Generate a cyber security policy and ensure it is easily available to all your employees
- Boost awareness of risk within your workplace, arranging for relevant training if necessary
- Only work with providers that are able to demonstrate a strong commitment to security
- Identify weaknesses in your hardware, software, and processes through security assessments
- Follow proper protocol when handling confidential data such as payment details
As you settle into the new post pandemic norm of the hybrid workplace you must address the increasing number of entry points into the network as more employees work remotely.
Since the onset of the pandemic, about 30% of organisations have reported a spike in cyber-attack attempts.
Hybrid Work Security Strategies For Cybersecurity
- Remote employees use a VPN
- Employees know cyber attacks could happen
- Employees can access only the resources they need
- Your team patches systems often – the process of distributing and applying updates to software
- Your networks are segmented
If It’s Not Broken, Don’t Fix It
While this is great day-to-day advice, it applies less to cyber resilience. The key is that you put in place the right balance of defensive, detection and responsive measures to protect your business. Therefore when the attack comes comes you will be able to prevent it causing damage. This means exploring new tools and technologies, some of which are capable of taking the fight to attackers, rather than waiting for them to come to you. By force of circumstance you are in an arms race against cyber-criminals.
When Was The Last Time You Performed A Security Audit On Your Website?
With the right approach, you can take proactive steps to reduce the total risk. Performing risk assessments will help you recognise and prioritise risks and identify different types of threats that your businesses could be vulnerable to.
If you would like some help getting a risk assessment done of your IT systems, then a Buy Time VA can help organise this. Alternatively they can help implement training and safer work security strategies for your business.
Buy Time
At Buy Time our clients are assigned a dedicated VA who work on an entirely flexible and pay as you go basis. They operate as an integral part of your team to support your business. With the ability to flex with your requirements, providing more or less hours as necessary, they can reduce the financial strain whilst supporting your business grow.
Our focus is our client. We therefore offer a flexible and transparent pricing structure. With no contract, subscription charges or minimum usage requirement, there are no real overheads to consider. Simply ‘buy time’ as it’s needed. We charge an hourly rate and in 5-minute slots. It is not as expensive as you think.
We support businesses and individuals starting out on their journey as well as more established organisations. Many clients have been with us for years: our long-term relationships have benefited from this approach for well over a decade.
Here To Help
If you would like to have an informal chat about how Buy Time can help support your business, please do get in touch at info@buy-time.co.uk or 0203 371 7115.