6 Essential Cyber Security Tips for Businesses of all sizes
In today's digital age, it's more important than ever for businesses to take cyber security seriously. Cyber attacks can have devastating consequences, from financial losses to damage to a company's reputation. Fortunately, there are steps that businesses can take to protect themselves from cyber threats. In this blog post, we'll be sharing six essential cyber security tips for businesses of all sizes. From implementing strong passwords and two-factor authentication, to keeping software and operating systems up to date, these tips will help you to keep your business secure and your data safe. Whether you're a small business owner or a large corporation, these tips will help you to stay one step ahead of cyber criminals and mitigate the risk of cyber attacks.
Use strong passwords and update them regularly
Strong passwords are one of the most basic yet effective ways to protect your business from cyber attacks. Make sure you use a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters, or phrases with space holders and punctuation marks are an excellent option and easy to remember, if you are not using a password manager.
For example: Iwalkmydogs@6am_inthemorning
or 3 random words are suggested by The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) for example: WalkMorningDogs
These are more challenging for attackers to figure out, update them every few months! Limit password attempts and implement a lock out policy also. NCSC give some great business password advice here.
2. Implement two-factor authentication (2FA)
Two-factor authentication is an additional layer of security that requires a user to provide two forms of identification before logging in. This can include a password and a fingerprint, or a password and a text message code. You will notice that most banks use this method when you login and many apps and software have the option to set up 2FA in your account settings.
3. Keep software and operating systems up to date
Cyber criminals often exploit vulnerabilities in outdated software and operating systems to gain access to a business's network. Make sure you keep all software and operating systems up to date with the latest security patches. Out of date patches are a frequent find when we carry out penetration testing. Updating your website plugins is also a must, otherwise you are vulnerable to a malicious attack.
4. Use a firewall
A firewall is a barrier that controls the flow of information between a business's network and the Internet. It can help to prevent unauthorised access and protect against malware and other cyber threats. Make sure you do not have any ports open on your firewall that don’t need to be, hackers can take advantage of open ports when attempting to access your business network.
5. Regularly backup data
This is very important and often overlooked! Regularly backing up data can help a business to recover quickly in the event of a cyber-attack or other disaster. Make back-ups part of your routine by adding a reminder to your business diary. Back up once a week and make someone responsible for the task. Make sure you store backups in a secure location, such as an off site server or cloud service, or simply on a handheld hard drive/USB that someone in the business is nominated to keep offsite.
6. Train employees on cyber security best practices
Employee education is one of the most important aspects of cyber security. Make sure you train employees on how to identify and avoid phishing email scams, how to use the Internet safely, how to create and store passwords and how to handle sensitive information.
In addition to these tips, it is also a good idea to conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities in your network, websites, web apps or Internet of things (IoT) smart devices, take steps to address them. Additionally, having an incident response plan and policies in place can help you to respond to a cyber security incident quickly and effectively.