10 easy guidelines for reducing cybersecurity vulnerability

The increasing number of cyberattacks on businesses is a serious concern. While it may seem that only big companies are facing data theft & security breach issues, small businesses have suffered equally. If you want to reduce cybersecurity vulnerability, your business needs to be proactive in all ways. Below is a set of 10 guidelines that can help.

1. Consider cyber insurance. Sometimes, despite the best efforts, things may go wrong, and you don’t want to bear the losses on your own alone. For that, consider spending on cyber insurance, but do check all the relevant details before signing up.
2. Make cybersecurity part of onboarding. New employees, without cybersecurity training, can pose serious risk for your business. Consider making cybersecurity training a part of the onboarding process.
3. Create strong passwords. Urge your employees to create long passwords, which should include special characters, uppercase & lowercase letters, and numbers. Passwords shouldn’t be repeated or reused.
4. Use multifactor authentication. It is absolutely important to use a second and third layer of security, besides a strong password. This could refer to a security question, a pin, or even a onetime password sent to user’s mobile.
5. Encourage employees to report mistakes and incidents. Let’s say that an employee downloaded a wrong file or clicked a malicious link. Instead of reprimanding them, encourage them to report the same, as that will help in fixing similar concerns in the future.
6. Limit access to company data. This is also another aspect that goes a long way in reducing risks related to cybersecurity. Find a tool that can make access right management an easy thing for managers, so that only those who need access to particular data/device have these rights.
7. Discuss phishing at length. You have to consider discussing phishing at length with your employees. Use simulations, if need be, and real-life examples, to let employees know the seriousness of such attacks.
8. Use firewalls. Every device, including IP cameras, that’s connected to the network can be hacked. Placing networked devices behind firewalls is one of the basic measures for better cybersecurity.
9. Try antimalware software. There are all kinds of antimalware software products in the market, some of which have been designed efficiently for small businesses. From viruses to trojans, the right software can detect various kinds of malicious files.
10. Create an incident response plan. Make sure that you have an incident response plan in place. In case something goes wrong, your employees and cybersecurity teams will know the protocols to follow.

Cybersecurity is all about basics – really.