{"id":2372,"date":"2019-03-13T13:06:42","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T17:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/?p=2372"},"modified":"2019-03-13T13:07:09","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T17:07:09","slug":"keep-it-under-wraps-small-business-cyber-security-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/keep-it-under-wraps-small-business-cyber-security-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep It Under Wraps: Small Business Cyber Security Best Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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If you’re not invested in your cyber security, you’re not invested in the future of your business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

60% of small businesses<\/a> collapse after a cyber security attack on their company. You can’t ignore the threat, and you can’t pretend it won’t happen to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it happens and you’re not prepared, it’s too late. That’s why you need to prepare your company with the right policies to protect your interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some small business cyber security best practices your company needs to implement today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Keep Your Software Updated and Use a Firewall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Protect against threats by stopping their natural allies. Insecure software gives hackers exploits to break into your system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping your software updated reduces this threat, as does a firewall. This can stop anyone accessing your network from outside unless they’ve got permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve got remote workers, your firewall needs to protect you if they’re insecure. Isolate remote users onto a separate network subnet and if you’re using remote desktop software, consider a more secure TeamViewer alternative<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have a Secure BYOD Strategy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Smartphones, tablets, smart watches, laptops. They’re all an expense for your business if you need to buy them for your staff, so isn’t it cheaper to let your staff use their own?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies love a BYOD (bring your own device) strategy because they think it’ll save them money. It won’t if your staff bring in a laptop riddled with viruses that then connects to your Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your strategy for BYOD shouldn’t be to ban it\u2014just ensure your staff knows the risks and make sure that devices have regular security updates, strong passwords and anti-malware software installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use Preventative Employment Training<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BYOD proves that staff can often be the weakest link when you’re thinking about data security best practices. The best defenses are only as good as the staff who use them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Train your staff to watch out for threats and be aware of the dangers. Your employees, new and old, should go through training so that they’re aware of the consequences of poor data security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having better-informed staff doesn’t mean that the risk is eliminated, but it should help reduce it overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prepare for the Worst and Back up Your Data<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It doesn’t matter what precautions you take, the threat of an attack on your business network security can’t be 100% removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s why you need to have policies in place to prepare for the worst, should it happen. You can replace computer systems, but you can’t replace your data, so keep essential data backed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t rely on one back up. Use on-site backups to a network attached storage device, and back up to an off-site backup (like cloud storage) too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t know how to do it yourself? A managed IT service can help you. Check out to help you find the right one for your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take Your Small Business Cyber Security Seriously<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The security of your network isn’t something you can forget about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to protecting your data and network infrastructure, the simplest advice is best. Your staff are the weakest link so ensure the right training is in place to help them avoid obvious threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it’s up to you. Keep your software up to date, your firewall in place, and don’t forget to keep your data backed up, just in case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your small business cyber security policy isn’t the only thing you need to prepare for. Check out our other  for further business tech advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re not invested in your cyber security, you’re not invested in the future of your business.  60% of small businesses collapse after a cyber security attack on their company. You can’t ignore the threat, and you can’t pretend it won’t happen to you. If it happens and you’re not prepared, it’s too late. That’s why you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,46],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2374,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372\/revisions\/2374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}