Best Practices of Cybersecurity for SMEs
The harder you work, there is always someone working harder. This is true in Cyber security. If you work hard on getting your site and data secure, there are always hackers and other groups of people trying to access it and trying to breach that security.
Another year of protecting our data also means another year for cybercriminals to upscale their strategies. The thing about cybersecurity is it constantly evolves so, as individuals who are now dependent on the use of the internet and technology, we should always remember why cybersecurity is a top concern for everyone. We must try to adapt faster than the bad guys!
In fact, last year, incidents targeting organisations under 1,000 workers doubled between 2021 and 2022.
In this article, we’d like to share some of the best practices of cybersecurity that Small and Medium Enterprises can adapt.
- Limit employee data and software installation access – Don’t let a single person have access to all the data systems. There should be strict controls in place to prevent unauthorised software installations and limit workers’ access to just the data systems they require to do their tasks. When properly implemented, it lowers the risk of data being obtained without proper authorisation, illegally, and leading to a data breach.
- Employee training and policies – Employees typically cause cyberattacks. Due to a lack of knowledge, your employees may disclose their login data or reply to phishing emails. To avoid such situations, educate your employees and be conscious of online threats. It’s essential to teach them effective cybersecurity practices and common ways to prevent attacks. Moreover, start-ups and small businesses need fundamental security standards, including employee policies.
- Ramp up security protocols – Even if a business believes it is too little to be worth a cybercriminal’s energy, it is still wise to implement the most up-to-date security and encryption methods into its system. Some examples of such measures include multi-factor authentication, an audit record of every activity, continuous backups, and more.
As we enter into another year of post-COVID, let’s start by strengthening our cybersecurity practices; especially now that businesses and the workforce have adapted various approaches to working that heavily rely on the use of technology. You can’t predict when an assault will happen, but you can minimise or eliminate the damage if you’re prepared.
