No person or organization is safe from cybersecurity risks. It is nearly impossible to escape it in today’s world. Therefore, every individual and business owner should proactively build a safe and secure environment for their employees, associates, customers, and other users. A safe corporate environment reduces the risks that cybercriminals pose to a business. Below are a few innovative ways to minimize information and data security risks to your computer systems.
Train Your Employees in Cybersecurity
As bookkeeping is essential for financial recording, it is vital to set some time aside to educate your employees about cybersecurity, how to be smart online, and how to identify scams such as suspicious emails and websites.
Take Advantage of Antivirus and Anti-spyware Software for Each Computer
Ensure you always have an updated version of powerful antivirus software on all your computers and devices so that no device is infected with new viruses.
Avoid Skipping the Firewall
Firewalls are critical to keeping cybercriminals out of your devices. If you have more than five computers, a network firewall is a good investment to protect your overall network.
Obtain Necessary Backup Copies of Vital Data
Without necessary data backups, you will be in a significant bind if you lose your organization’s valuable data and records because of a cyber breach. At least one of your data backup sets needs to be kept off-site in a secure place so that only a few reliable and trusted individuals can access it. Experts suggest locking up your critical business backup data.
Secure Your Wi-Fi Connections
Wi-Fi networks are usually easy ways for cybercriminals to obtain access to confidential content. Thus, all your Wi-Fi networks must be robust and complex enough to reduce your risk of this happening. Consequently, using special and numerical characters cannot harm, either.
Ensure Robust Control Over Access to Your Business Computers, Networks, and Other Devices
You are bound to have seen thriller movies in which a cybercriminal fakes their identity and then attacks a server, stealing sensitive data by copying it onto a USB in a matter of minutes. Sure, that’s Hollywood for you. However, it happens in real life more than we would like to admit. Thus, always ensure you know who is coming in and out of your company premises. In addition, do not permit individuals to play with your systems that contain important data files.
Create an Individual User Account For Each Employee
Having every employee use their official accounts to perform their jobs on your business computers makes sense. It ensures easier tracking of who is performing what activity online. This is a security measure that will be beneficial in many ways.
Keep a Password Policy in Your Organization
An easy tactic to safeguard your devices is to secure them with good passwords. A password policy will encourage all employees to change their account passwords quarterly and create them so they are difficult to guess. As mentioned earlier, it is imperative to build passwords using letters, numbers, and special characters simultaneously, which makes it harder to crack the code. Consequently, passwords must be easy to remember but hard to guess.
Limit Authority to Install or Uninstall Software
Even if one of your employee’s user devices is compromised, a hacker will fail to download or delete software if you have limited authority. Only authorized staff members must be able to install software applications on your company’s devices to ensure a safe and secure environment.
Leverage Cyber Liability Insurance
In case of a cyber breach or data hack on your business computers, cyber insurance will protect you from system failures, cyber extortion, and breaches. Suppose your company heavily depends on its business computers, servers, and devices or stores personal client information. In that case, adding a cyber policy to your company insurance plan is a good idea.
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