With the evolving trends of technology and a shift towards digital data storage, the need for solid cybersecurity has reached an all-time high. Many sensitive articles of information are stored digitally, including client’s personal and financial data. This data must be kept private and confidential, which creates a need for solid digital protection. Check out the rest of this article to learn how you can beef up the cybersecurity of your business!
Why Do You Need Cybersecurity?
If you haven’t been keeping up on trends in cybersecurity today, then you wouldn’t know that data and identity theft are at an all-time high. As we progressively integrate new technologies into our life, we also increase the opportunities for our personal information to be stolen.
You’ve probably received an email at some point in the past year indicating that your email was included in some form of data breach. Several of the biggest data banks in the entire world have been hacked, leaking millions of names, social security numbers, passwords, and other precious bits of information.
Part of the problem with new technology is just how susceptible it is to malignant behavior. The internet is huge, and allows plenty of room for hackers to create viruses, keyloggers, and phishing links that make the process even easier for them.
When you take this all and apply it to the realm of business, things get even scarier. Instead of mere thousands of dollars, you’re now dealing with millions. As a business, you likely store client’s information in some capacity. You likely have a database containing phone numbers, names, emails, and maybe even descriptive details like their dates of birth and addresses.
But have you ever considered the impact if you were to have that information stolen? Clients would lose faith in your business, you’d likely encounter lawsuits, and you probably wouldn’t be able to continue operating. All of these are great reasons to beef up your company’s cybersecurity practices!
Lockdown Client’s Personal Information!
There are several different things you can do to limit your vulnerability to cyber attacks. Many of these on the list below are great preventative measures, as once the information is stolen, it can’t be retrieved. This makes preventing a cyber attack from being successful the most important thing to consider. Keep in mind that a dedicated and skilled hacker can get through basic security measures, so you’ll want to use a combination of many techniques.
Antivirus Software
A good antivirus software should be a staple of any business office. You might know how to smartly browse the internet without downloading shady files, but that doesn’t mean everyone else in the office will do the same.
You can easily combat this issue by installing a quality antivirus software. An antivirus software will create a software firewall, preventing harmful viruses from entering and infecting your computer. Antivirus softwares are not perfect, though, as some viruses are specifically designed to be undetected by antivirus softwares. Some viruses even mimic the look and function of antivirus softwares! Either way, look into an antivirus solution that will work for your business.
Physically Secure Files
Even though society is trending towards making everything digital, physical hard copies of files still exist. Physical information is just as important to security as digital information. While it isn’t as easy for someone across the world to steal this information, it can still find its way into the hands of someone nefarious nearby.
This is easy to prevent and requires the use of some physical security. Use a padlock and physically lock files up. Keep sensitive files in rooms requiring keycard access. Find something that serves the purpose of physically securing your client’s files.
Limit Email & Social Media
Your employees will always want to check their email and browse social media at work. This is good for their enjoyment, but it can pose a cybersecurity risk to your business.
One of the most common avenues for receiving a virus or keylogger is through a link in an email or on social media. Email scams have been around for decades, but they’re now popping up on social media sites too. Find a way to limit social media and personal email use so that only business-related content is allowed. This will prevent any accidental infections.
Back Everything Up
While it isn’t as impactful as having information stolen, losing your clients information can be pretty bad too. There is a reason why you stored client’s information. Whether it was so you could contact them, learn their interests, or something else, there was a specific purpose for it.
When you lose information online, it isn’t ever really gone. It is just somewhere else, which means someone can find it. To make things go smoothly, backup every bit of information you have for your client. You can easily make server backups to prevent hiccups like this.
Frequent Audits
Every other method on this list is focused on prevention, and audits are no different. You might think you have a perfect cybersecurity system in place, but how do you know that unless it is tested? Hackers don’t use the same methods everytime. They change and adapt to the new trends of cybersecurity.
This means you need to adapt a mentality of constantly evolving. Check and test your security measures regularly. Make sure all of your employees are following them! Going through the process of an audit can help indicate areas needing improvement or measures that need replacement altogether!
Find Experts on Cybersecurity!
Personal information and data safety has become a hot topic in today’s society. It seems like nearly every month a new company releases a statement about a recent data breach. The last thing you’d want to do is be another company following that trend.
You can do your best to avoid this by instituting some solid cybersecurity practices! Some that work great for any business include an effective antivirus software, physically locking files up, limiting unnecessary external communications, creating a backup file, and manually auditing your procedures to ensure they work.
Even if you try your best, you might run into a scenario where your cybersecurity is still lacking. Not to worry though, you can find experts on cybersecurity at an accounting firm like Evergreen CPAs! You can explain the structure of your business, and we’ll give you an in-depth analysis of how you can keep client’s information secure!
