Protecting your company from online dangers is one of the most important things you need to take into consideration when it comes to running your own business. The threats you can come across are plenty and in order to avoid them, you will need a strong cyber security strategy.
Even if you don’t know about this topic, there are still quite a few simple steps you can follow in order to protect your business while still educating yourself and your employees about the matter. Here are some of the best tips to help you write the perfect cyber security strategy for your venture.
Train your employees correctly
The very first thing you should be doing when it comes to protecting your company from online threats is to make sure your employees are well trained. There are many different ways for a hacker or a virus to reach your company’s personal data, but a trained employee should be able to detect and avoid the threat.
Most commonly, threats appear in the form of various links and suspicious looking emails that your employees might not be able to notice before opening. In order to protect your sensitive business information, you need to establish penalties and teach your trained employees to be careful of their actions in regards to the safety of the company.
Protect your passwords
Password protection is another very important aspect of managing the security of your business. The passwords you choose to protect your firm should be strong and hard-to-guess in order to make sure they won’t be easy to crack by just anyone. It is also crucial that you update your passwords frequently and not repeat them.
Along with those measures, you should also be careful of who you choose to share the most important passwords with. Not every employee should be able to have access to every file of the company so having a few people you can trust with a certain password will help keep your security intact.
Install the latest anti-virus software
Just like your passwords, the anti-virus you use to protect your company’s files should always be kept up to date and active on every computer used by your employees within your office space. You can easily achieve this by setting up the anti-virus to automatically check for updates at a scheduled time each month and run regular scans for viruses and malware a few times every single week.
“Protection measures such as anti-virus software and a firewall should be the first priority for any business that wishes to keep its files and records private and secure”, advises Marie Fincher, Writer for TrustMyPaper and GrabMyEssay
Secure your Wi-Fi networks
Working on an unsecured network should be done with caution. While having remote workers or working remotely yourself might be something you can’t always avoid, you need to make sure that every party involved understands they should not be working on important things from unsecured networks in coffee-shops and other public places.
It is also important for you to secure the Wi-Fi network you and your employees use at your office. Changing the default password to a stronger one and making sure the network can’t be accessed from outside of your work is detrimental for the protection of your important files against a cyber-attack.
Back up your data
“Backing up your company’s data regularly is essential so that you can always have access to your files, even if something ends up going wrong”, advises Ted Rowen, Head of Security for Studicus. Apart from certain personal and financial records you might risk losing due to a cyber-attack, you also risk losing other critical data which is essential to your company’s survival.
Backing up your data before a disaster strike is the best way to cope with any potential loses. It is a good idea to keep more than one backup copy on different types of media so that you are always able to update them regularly. Keeping a backup copy secured offsite is also a good option to keep in mind.
Track and monitor personal accounts
One thing many employees might not think about is just how easy it is to access company files through a compromised personal account. If you or anyone else in your company notices unfamiliar activity in an account or failed attempts to log in, it could be a clear sign that the account has been compromised.
The best course of action is to add another security layer by incorporating a two-layer authentication to the accounts you and your employees use. While it might seem unnecessary to some members of your company, they all need to be reminded that an additional means of protection is more important than losing irreplaceable company data.
Hire a professional to hack your systems
If you are not sure about the actual effectiveness of any measures you might have taken against a potential cyber-attack, the best thing you can do is to hire a professional who will be able to see just how easily your security measures can be compromised.
There are many IT specialists online who would be able to test your system and find any weaknesses it holds. After you have successfully recognized all the issues, you can begin to try and establish a strategy that will better protect your business against an actual attack.
Securing your company’s information one step at a time
Due to the high rise of IT and the advances in technology, companies should be even more careful with their files and personal data as it can easily be compromised by someone with bad intentions and enough knowledge in the field.
Protecting your company against a potential cyber-security attack requires you to establish measured which will help you and your employees deal with any issues that might come up effectively. Proper training and protective measures will help your files stay safe and your company’s reputation unharmed.
Do you consider a cyber-security strategy important for any business? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section of the article!

Author Bio: Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. Along with pursuing her degree in Creative Writing, Kristin was gaining experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors. Now she works as a freelance writer at PickTheWriter. Kristin runs her own FlyWriting blog.
Kristin Savage is a guest blogger. All opinions are her own.