Safeguarding Success: The Importance of Business Security
You’ve worked hard to build your business. To keep it safe, you need to have security measures at the top of your priority list. Otherwise, thieves and hackers will walk away with the fruits of your years of labor. A security program can help you avoid these problems.
What practical steps can you take to safeguard your success? Here are a few practices you can begin implementing today with a security program.
Cybersecurity Measures for Small Businesses
Cybersecurity begins with the basics. Install these safeguards and you’ll take the first step in protecting your interests. Security programs are important for protecting your data and other important business information.
Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication is far superior to a simple password. The complexity needed for thieves to impersonate an employee is typically too much to make the effort worth it. So, try to establish multi-factor authentication for access to anything on your network.
Strong Passwords
Whether you use multi-factor authentication or not, your passwords should be difficult to guess. Restrict employees to using only passwords containing unusual combinations of upper and lower case letters, numerals, and special characters. Then program your software to require a new password after three months.
Run Regular Data Backups
Some businesses run data backups every few minutes. Others operate on a daily or even weekly schedule.
Analyze your data. Determine how much data you’re willing to lose if a criminal network seizes your existing data and holds it for ransom. Your analysis will give you a good idea of how often you should run backups.
Limit Network Access
Restrict access to sensitive data. For example, only members of a particular team should be able to read files related to their current project. When assignments change, access should follow suit. The update should be immediate.
Physical Security: Protecting Your Business Premises and Assets
There are electronic and digital tools today to secure any business establishment. The challenge is choosing the correct equipment and keeping it up-to-date.
One way of remaining current is to purchase the latest well-reviewed security item and incorporate it into your existing system. However, there’s a problem with that approach.
You’ll have to make sure the new equipment works well with the old. The software or operating system could be incompatible.
A better way of securing your establishment is by using a unified security program that does everything you need. You’ll never have to worry about compatibility issues again.
Employee Training: The Human Element of Business Security
Employees are more likely to implement security procedures, such as changing passwords, if they understand why they’re necessary. A new security program can be frustrating at first because of the extra steps.
Give employees a mental picture of what happens to the business and their jobs if the company fails to secure a client’s sensitive data. Without the explanation, the password requirement seems like an unnecessary burden.
Make sure your security team is adept at communicating with the other employees, helping them grasp key concepts. Ideally, you want every staff member to be security conscious.
Secure Your Business Today
Making your business secure is possible if you tackle it in three phases. First, make sure your security program is in place. Then, use a unified monitoring platform to guard your physical location. And help your employees understand the crucial roles they play in keeping the business safe.
