The Importance of Cyber Security for Your Business
We’ve got digital platforms for almost every aspect of our lives, with e-commerce being one of the biggest beneficiaries of the growing digitisation trend. Although this adds massive convenience and opportunity to develop innovative features, it also opens up potential risks as well. For companies that are operating online there are some pitfalls to look out for with regard to their cyber security, and it’s something that can have massive repercussions if it’s ignored. So what are some things to keep in mind?
Teach Employees to use Strong Passwords
This seems blindingly obvious, but it’s still something that people neglect to pay attention to quite frequently. A lot of online security breaches are possible because weak passwords are easier and faster to decrypt. If your employees may have sensitive information on their laptops, or in their email accounts, password training for employees is an industry standard when it comes to IT, and it’s one of the basics that has to be secured. Remember, “1234” and “password” are not secure options.
Be Careful about what you share online
It might seem like sending an email is no different to having a conversation, but in terms of legality and the fact that emails are hackable, that’s not necessarily the case. A simple example would be someone under a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). If you’re not allowed to publicly discuss something, but send a friend an email with sensitive information regarding the topic of the NDA, and it gets hacked or released somehow, you could still be liable for that transgression. Sometimes it pays to be overly cautious, and with information regarding bank accounts, confidential business data, or other sensitive information it’s better to keep its circulation minimal.
Keep all business software updated
Most software and IT companies put a lot of time and effort into making sure their applications or programs are as secure as possible – and they generally maintain things like an app’s or program’s security functions via updates or patches. Staying up to speed with those patches is vital to make sure that the latest, and most secure, version of the software is being used by your business. It could be something as simple as updating your email client because they fixed a security weakness, but something that simple could be a big headache in the event of a security breach.
Know what data your business collects and protect it
If your business collects customer information as part of the business operations, it’s often a legal requirement to go to extensive lengths to protect that information. If a customer shares information with your business that can compromise them in some way, or can be used malignantly, it’s the business’ responsibility to make sure it’s as difficult as possible for an outside party to gain access to that information. Once a company gains information about their customers, they’re obligated to protect it, and by extension their customers, too. Thankfully, there are ways to ensure this.
Consult Experts
At the rate that IT conventions and digital technology is changing, it can be difficult as a business owner to stay up to date with all your digital information risks and responsibilities. Going back to the previous point – if you know you collect client information and want to know how it needs to be protected and what the potential dangers are, consult the legal and technical experts that can best advise you on what solutions will keep that information secure.
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