Before getting carried away with investing your hard earned money on an up-to-date security system for your server, you may want to peruse this blog to find affordable common sense ways to limit your exposure to hackers and other undesirable visitors to the electronic side of your business.
- Attitude: the first thing you need to know is that your data has value. Business owners tend to minimize that value to their detriment. Hackers definitely think your personal data has value and they’re willing to go to some extraordinary lengths to get their hands on it. This should motivate you to limit the number of people that have access to your data.
- Business is business: your business data has no place on your social media account. Hackers tend to make use of any social media information they can get their hands on to attack your business, whether it is to help them decipher your passwords or get relevant data that may help them get a foot in.
Consider what you post on your social media accounts. Such data can and will be used by hackers for identity theft or phishing purposes. - Keep the fortress safe: always have the security setting running on your business PC and limit access to people you can trust. Remember: three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead. Ok, we can’t afford to take that attitude, but the idea still holds. Make sure you know who has access to your network and make sure that your passwords are secure and are updated regularly.
- Maintenance: just as the door to your house needs to be solid, so does your equipment. Keep your software up-to-date at all times and don’t dawdle.
Some people tend to think that an update can wait a couple of days. You need to know that those couple of days will mean that you left your door open for the duration. You wouldn’t forget to close the door to your house for a couple of days. Neither should you wait for that critical update. - Keep abreast of developments: the news is full of stories about successful hacks and ransomware scares. Keeping abreast of developments keeps you ahead of the curve and will help you avoid making costly mistakes.
This is also why a managed IT service can be invaluable. They are often ahead of these “breaking” stories and can help you avoid such breaches. - Destroy data: once you’re done with data, you need to destroy it. Shred data in paper format. Successfully destroying data on hard drives can be done, but it takes more than clicking delete or emptying your recycle bin. You need to be thorough, because remaining data can be gold for hackers.
For more information on the subject, do call us. Our friendly experts are looking forward to helping you protect your business.