Four ways companies can protect their data against online threats

There will always be a common misconception that hackers and cybercriminals only target multi-million dollar corporations. But, that is not the case as SMBs face the same levels of danger, if not more, But companies can protect their data against online threats. as far as experiencing a cyberattack or data breach is concerned. 

That said, this misconception that small to medium-sized businesses are safe from hackers prevents organizations from incorporating the necessary cybersecurity measures to protect themselves from unwanted data breaches. 

In fact, they sometimes don’t give it much thought but end up suffering whenever a data or security breach ruins their reputation as a business. 

However, business owners must realize that hackers are now more active due to the COVID-19 pandemic than ever. They’re utilizing the pandemic to their advantage and launching cyberattacks like ransomware, phishing emails, and malware programs to steal businesses’ data and spread wrong information. 

While you might say that installing an antivirus program on your workplace computer will do the trick, hackers are now aware of this and increasing their attacks’ complexities to breach even the most effective of antivirus software. 

Here are a few ways businesses can protect their data against online breaches. 

Educate your workforce.

There is doubt that your workforce is the weakest link in your cybersecurity chain, which means that your staff doesn’t have any awareness or knowledge about data breaches. All your employees want to do is punch in their employee cards, do their jobs, and clock out at the end of their shift.

Even if you have the latest cybersecurity solutions and measures in place, they probably won’t do you any good if your staff isn’t aware of the latest viruses and cyber threats. It is why you must educate your employees from time to time. 

For instance, you can sponsor your employees to earn online masters in cyber security degrees or encourage them to participate in security awareness initiatives. 

In the end, the more awareness they have about cybersecurity threats, the more challenging it will be for cybercriminals to trick them into revealing business data unintentionally.

Lervage the lastest security tools.

Installing the best cybersecurity tools and programs won’t benefit you if you don’t utilize them to their total capacity. Business owners and IT staff make this mistake now and then. Moreover, after spending hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on the latest cybersecurity tools, IT staff fail to take advantage of the features they have to offer.

However, businesses must ensure that the cybersecurity programs on board are utilized to their maximum potential. 

So, whether you want to use a VPN to mask your IP addresses, keep your antivirus software updated, place firewalls, or back up data at an off-site location, these cybersecurity programs and software typically come preloaded with such features.

Set complex passwords.

In previous times, business never asked their workforce to use complicated passwords while working on business computers. However, according to recent breaches, this practice is now a thing of the past. As a result, whenever cybersecurity experts visit your business, they will put more focus than usual on the importance of using complicated passwords. 

After all, your passwords are the first line of defense against cybercriminals. While that is understandable, chances are your employees are still using their date of birth as passwords for everything from social media accounts to their bank accounts.

In the end, if your employees set more complicated passwords, it will be difficult for hackers and breachers to decipher them. Therefore, an excellent practice is to create passwords that consist of alphabets, numbers, lowercase letters, uppercase letters, symbols, or a combination of all of them.

Limit access.

If you think the tips mentioned above won’t be effective in your workplace, there is no better approach than limiting the amount of data your employees can access. Must use computer security policy to esure that your data is protected.

While most businesses use this method to ensure business devices containing confidential data remain safe, restricting access to your employees might not be an ideal approach for all. 

However, doing so will limit an employee’s chances of accidentally passing business-critical data to an online scammer.

Furthermore, when you go for this approach, you will be able to create admin accounts to monitor your workforce’s digital activities and ensure they don’t access anything that isn’t work-related. 

So, consider giving limited access to your employees if you want everything to run as smoothly as possible while reducing the chances of employee mistakes and errors that could leak your business data online.

Conclusion.

According to an IBM cybersecurity report, approximately seventy-seven percent of cybersecurity professionals say they don’t have an incidence response plan to tackle cybersecurity breaches. This statistic is immensely worrying for businesses everywhere. 

If business owners fail to incorporate an effective incidence response plan, chances are they might not know what to do after experiencing an online data breach. This will result in considerable financial losses. 

Not to mention, it will drastically damage a business’s reputation in the marketplace. However, consider following the tips mentioned in this article to ensure your data remains protected at all costs.