Here Is What Local IT Services Can Do To Keep Your Small Business Safe
You may not have as much money or deal with as much valuable data as Capital One or DoorDash, but you’re still a prime target for cybercriminals. According to Verizon’s Data Breach Report and Forbes:
- 58% of all breaches in 2018 involved small businesses.
- 43% of all breaches involved small businesses in 2019.
The fact is that, because businesses of your size do such a poor job of implementing effective cybersecurity, you make for an easy target, worth the time it takes to breach your data. As explored in the 2019 Shred It Protection Report:
- 31% of small business owners report that human error or accidental loss by a staff member led to a data breach.
- 33% of respondents have not trained employees on cybersecurity best practices to defend them against phishing and ransomware.
- 30% of small business owners have no policy for storing confidential documents.
The point is that you can’t expect to stay hidden from cybercriminals – you have to protect yourself, or at least, have local IT services that manage it for you.
How Can Local IT Services Enhance Your Small Business Cybersecurity?
The fact is that while firewalls, antivirus software, and conventional remote monitoring are important parts of cybersecurity, they’re not enough on their own. You need to actually examine your defenses and find out where the vulnerabilities are – before cybercriminals do.
1. Audit & Assess Your Cybersecurity
You can’t afford to assume that your cybersecurity measures and practices are keeping you safe. You need to know for sure.
The best way to do so? Have your cybersecurity assessed by local IT services:
- Security Measures: The assessment will determine the strength of your current passwords, the validity of any firewalls in place, and any implementations of control lists that determine what users have access to sensitive information.By making sure these security standards are properly configured and up-to-date, your system will be that much more difficult to compromise.
- Reliable Failsafes: Despite best efforts, even the strongest security measures can be overcome, whether it’s a data breach or an unexpected emergency on your premises. An assessment will verify that you have regular backups kept at on- and off-site locations that can be relied upon in the case of any disaster.
- Comprehensive Maintenance: If your security measures are not updated regularly they can become ineffective quickly. In the course of an assessment, you can make sure that your security settings meet industry standards, that maintenance programming is configured to operate automatically, and that any past employees have been removed from the system (a dangerous error that is often overlooked).
2. Train Your Employees
A comprehensive cybersecurity training program provided by local IT services will teach your staff how to handle a range of potential situations:
- How to identify and address suspicious emails, phishing attempts, social engineering tactics, and more.
- How to use business technology without exposing data and other assets to external threats by accident.
- How to respond when you suspect that an attack is occurring or has occurred.
Do You Have Expert Local IT Services For Your Small Business?
On-Site Computers Inc. will help implement robust security measures, deploying security devices like firewalls, patching, antivirus software updates, intrusion, and gateway protection. Furthermore, we will support your cybersecurity processes and practices, by implementing 2-factor authentication, employee security training, and password reset policies for your company.
