3 Cybersecurity Tips for Aspiring Business Owners
Small business ownership has its challenges, and preventing cyberattacks from occurring is just one of them. Small businesses are the target of 43 percent of cyber incidents, and 60 percent of the small businesses that fall victim to cyber-attacks end up closing within six months. Moreover, about 47 percent of small business owners are unaware of the steps they can take to protect themselves and their businesses from password attacks, malware, phishing, and other cyber threats.
As an aspiring small business owner, learning proper website security is one of the best things you can do to ensure that your business will be a long-term success. Check out these three cybersecurity tips from Kjerstan Designs to reduce your risk of cybercrime and improve your chances of recovering in the event you suffer a cyber attack.
1. Look for Free Online Cybersecurity Training
Learning cybersecurity may seem unimportant when you’re busy writing a business plan, incorporating a company, designing a website, and hiring employees, but in reality, cybersecurity training is a necessity. Cybersecurity training aims to teach you and your employees about the different types of security threats (e.g. malware, phishing, spam, and social engineering), the steps you must take to protect your passwords and other sensitive information, and how cyber threats can be identified and reported.
For more cybersecurity tips and guidance, you can sign up to complete free online mini-courses through the Global Cyber Alliance, as these courses cover topics such as software updates, passwords, phishing scams, and malware.
2. Protect Your Business From Cyber Attacks
As an aspiring entrepreneur, you’ll also need to take steps to beef up your website security and protect your small business from cyber threats. Here are some ways to reduce your risk of falling victim to cybercrime:
- Create strong, long, and unique business passwords.
- Send encrypted messages when handling sensitive client data over email.
- Make sure your business Wi-Fi network is secure.
- Install antivirus software on each of your company computers and update the software regularly.
- Back up all business data, including electronic spreadsheets, financial documents, and accounting files.
When you complete a cybersecurity training program, you’ll typically learn how to protect your small business from cyberattacks such as malware, phishing, Structured Query Language (SQL) injections, and denial-of-service (DOS) attacks. The more you can learn about cybersecurity, the better protected your small business will be.
3. Develop a Cybersecurity Recovery Plan
Even if you do everything you can to protect your small business from cybercrime, it’s imperative to have a cybersecurity recovery plan in place should you fall victim to a cyberattack. If a cyber threat occurs, this recovery plan will help to reduce downtime and recover your files and applications much more quickly.
When developing your cybersecurity recovery plan, be sure to identify your most critical business technologies — as these will be recovered first in the event of an attack. Your recovery plan should also identify the different individuals involved in the recovery process and calculate your Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs).
Cybersecurity is the Key to Long-Term Business Success
As a new small business owner, failure to prioritize cybersecurity could one day result in millions of lost dollars — as well as lost customers, clients, and personal data. As such, it’s important to learn cybersecurity early on and take steps to protect your small business from online threats, even if you can’t afford to hire an IT professional as one of your first few employees.
A lot of time, money, and effort go into starting and running a successful business, but offloading tasks such as social media, marketing, and web design will allow you to focus more of your efforts on cybersecurity. Kjerstan Designs offers everything from web design and social media to data entry, cybersecurity tips and web hosting, so offload these tasks and focus on the things that matter most: Protecting your small business from suspicious activity.
Kjerstan Designs provides web design, social media, ecommerce, data entry, and other web-related services such as domain name registration and website hosting. Contact us today to learn more about the services they provide!