Cybersecurity and the Small Business: What You Need to Know

Real-World Example: A food distributor received an invoice email. The email looked real: “from” the expected vendor, arrived at the expected time, and equaled the expected amount. The thieves had been watching. The company didn’t discover the problem until the real vendor got in touch to ask why the payment was late. By then, nothing could be done. The cybersecurity measures were not previously in place. Loss: $23,500.

Understand

What is cybersecurity?

Well it’s not just one thing; it is many things.

“Cybersecurity is the art of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and the practice of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.”

Cybersecurity can change based on industry, size, and services you already have in place or want to have in place.

Many people are afraid of cybersecurity because they think it is difficult, outside their knowledge level, and it can often be hard to implement. Many companies ignore it. This is not a solution. 

Your risks of not implementing cybersecurity measures include hackers, attackers, intruders,  malicious codes/malware, and vulnerabilities.

(Thanks to Homeland Security for the above quoted info.)

Analyze

So, what is the solution? How do you figure out what your business needs?

Do you have a dedicated IT department to analyze your business’s specific needs? Or do you simply use hosted email with default security settings and take your chances with your daily computing platform?

Are you proactively training staff on cybersecurity issues and searching for security holes in your system?

Have you implemented single sign on and MFA across cloud applications?

Are you monitoring devices on your networks to ensure they are not bringing in intrusions from outside?

Are you paying attention to how and where company data is being stored and accessed?

In today’s world, remote work is becoming increasingly popular and needed. Is your company implementing security measures to protect remote workers along with company-owned data?

Protect

You could spend as much money as you want to and still not achieve 100% protection. Making sure you spend the right money on the right solutions is the right way forward.

There are many areas that cybersecurity needs to be applied to. Having these particular areas properly managed by a professional team can mitigate your exposure to threats.

Some security solutions include: 

• Firewalls with active security subscription.
• Protecting users from inbound threats, phishing, and other external compromises via email.
• Monitoring the DarkWeb for data which is already compromised.
• Ensuring you are using next generation endpoint anti-virus solutions that monitor for behavior not just signatures.
• Auditing how employees are using, accessing, and storing company-owned data.
• Having a reliable source to call when you have questions.

What’s next?

Cybersecurity doesn’t have to be hard, scary, or overwhelming when you have professionals handling it. It can be as expensive as you want it to be, or you can get solutions that are customized to your needs.

If you have questions, we are here to make cybersecurity easy, affordable, intelligent, and a perfect fit for your needs. At PremierePC, Cybersecurity is built into all we do.