Cyber threats are real – see how you can prevent them!
Protecting your business from cyber threats is crucial in this day and age and this infographic shows you just what some of the biggest threats are and how we can prevent them from happening to our business – from considering the risks of BYOD business set-ups to personnel background checks. It pays to be secure and smart.
From Sony, Target, Home Depot to Anthem – cyber attacks are on the up and increasingly in our news feeds.
But how do these attacks affect start ups? While major corporations might seem like the obvious targets, small businesses can be just as appealing to cyber criminals. 90% of small- and medium-sized businesses in the US do not have any data protection measures in place. A worrying thought considering nowadays, all types of information have value to attackers.
As a start up, you might think you don’t have enough of a budget for a thorough security system, but this shouldn’t deter you. You can still protect yourself sufficiently without outsourcing your cyber security with the right know-how.
Make sure your defenses are up to date. You might have installed anti-virus software on your computers, but do you regularly update your programs?
And while there are technical ways to protect yourself, you shouldn’t forget people and process controls.
Educating staff on the risks of social engineering, recognizing phishing and knowing about the need to have strong passwords is a cost effective measure that shouldn’t eat up too much of your company’s time.
Small companies also need to consider BYOD. For start-ups, letting staff bring their own devices is usually a better financial option than providing them all one, however this comes with a risk. Are the devices fitted with anti-virus software? Is data encrypted? What would happen in the device was to go missing – could you remotely remove the sensitive data before it was in the wrong hands?
But the most important thing to do as a start up is to identify the true value of your information, and with that you can build a cyber security plan around it to protect. Understand the data and information you hold. This could be your financials, customer details or intellectual property. Once you know what’s important, and you’ve identified how you store it, you can start to assess the risks these assets are vulnerable to.
Small businesses across all sectors need to be vigilant. For start-ups, cyber security might not be a huge priority, but a breach will mean all your efforts into building a business will be put back a step.
The right security culture now will mean you can easily scale security as your business grows. So what are your holes in your security plan?
The people at Modis have compiled an infographic to help you figure that out – see below.
