If you think your business is secure because you have an alarm system and security cameras, think again.
As technology advances, so do the ways in which your company can be harmed. Hackers and malware—a sneaky code that can create viruses and other software that disrupt a computer system—present real threats.
Here are six tips from experts to help keep your information safe.
- Invest in employee training
Savvy employees are crucial to helping identify phishing emails in which hackers disguise themselves as a trustworthy entity to obtain personal information, and knowing if a link will lead to malware that can crash a computer.
- Conduct a risk assessment
Carrie Kerskie, author of Your Public Identity: Because Nothing is Private Anymore and president of Kerskie Group, a cyber security protection firm in Naples, suggests conducting a risk assessment in which you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business and its hardware, software and data policies. It is also important to have a firm understanding of how your company’s personal information flows throughout technology.
- Create a data matrix
Data matrixes sound complicated, but they’re really fancy spreadsheets for information, showing what information you have and where it’s stored—a vital aspect of cyber security.
- Change passwords frequently
“Businesses really need to get away from master passwords,” Kerskie says. “The reason you want different usernames and passwords is to look at the login data and see what user credentials accessed the sensitive information—without this, there’s no accountability.”
- Diligently scan your IP addresses
An IP address is basically a group of numbers that identifies a piece of technology and allows it to communicate with other devices. Hackers use IP addresses to trick technology and allow the hacker into their system.
- Know whom to call when you’ve been attacked
The point of cyber security providers isn’t to avoid all attacks, but to minimize and mend them if they occur. “It’s a very complex issue, and there isn’t a silver bullet or single answer,” says James Hansen, president and chief executive officer of Black Eagle Security Team, a cyber security and solutions provider in Naples. But it is vital for a business to be able to call a third-party resource for assistance when disaster strikes.
