In the digital age, small businesses must be vigilant about their cybersecurity practices. We’ve gathered insights from top IT professionals, including CISOs and Information Security Managers, to bring you eight key measures for enhancing your cybersecurity. From cultivating cybersecurity awareness to applying regular software updates and patches, these experts share their essential strategies.
- Cultivate Cybersecurity Awareness
- Utilize Strong Passwords for Protection
- Implement MFA for a Simple Security Upgrade
- Establish a Robust Data-Backup Strategy
- Consider a Virtual CISO Solution
- Educate Employees on Phishing Techniques
- Regular Data Recovery Protocols for Safety
- Apply Regular Software Updates and Patches
Cultivate Cybersecurity Awareness
Empowering individuals to become proactive participants in cybersecurity applies to both small and big businesses. By striving to cultivate a deep understanding of cybersecurity principles and risk management strategies within our team, we equip individuals to effectively identify and mitigate cyber threats, ultimately strengthening our collective defense.
One practical example is fostering the ability to discern spoofed emails from legitimate ones. To achieve this, ongoing education and continuously expanding our knowledge base of emerging cyber threats, best practices, and industry trends are key.
Trevor Horwitz, CISO, TrustNet Inc.
Utilize Strong Passwords for Protection
Small businesses can no longer rely on the principle that they are “too small to be targeted.” Enhancing cybersecurity for small businesses is crucial. Implement strong password policies and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to protect against unauthorized access.
Even with limited resources, these measures significantly improve security with minimal investment and maximal impact.
Chris Watson, Information Security Manager, Choice Solutions, LLC
Implement MFA for a Simple Security Upgrade
Keeping your small business safe online can feel overwhelming. But here’s a simple, powerful tool you can use to seriously upgrade your security: multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Think of it like adding an extra lock to your door. With MFA, even if someone guesses your password (the first lock), they still can’t get in because they’ll need another piece of information, like a code from your phone or a fingerprint scan.
MFA can block over 99.9% of attacks that try to steal passwords! It’s a cost-effective way for small businesses with limited resources to make a big difference in their cybersecurity.
Hodahel Moinzadeh, Founder & Senior Systems Administrator, SecureCPU Managed IT Services
Establish a Robust Data-Backup Strategy
A crucial step to improving cybersecurity for small businesses is to implement a robust data-backup strategy. Regularly backing up data ensures that, in the event of a cyberattack such as ransomware or a data breach, your business can quickly restore critical information and maintain operations with minimal disruption.
By keeping secure, up-to-date copies of your data both onsite and offsite (using cloud services or physical backups), you create a safety net that mitigates the impact of potential security incidents. This not only helps in recovering lost data but also strengthens your overall resilience against cyber threats.
Alex Tray, Cybersecurity Consultant, NAKIVO
Consider a Virtual CISO Solution
Small businesses face a unique set of challenges when it comes to implementing measures to enhance cybersecurity. They have very limited time and capacity—CxOs just don’t have the capacity to assess, design, implement, and maintain cybersecurity solutions on top of their day jobs while they’re trying to grow a business.
There’s also a lack of expertise—they don’t have the technical subject matter experts in-house to resolve cybersecurity challenges. They also don’t have the sizeable budgets that multimillion-pound enterprises have to fix their security. Small businesses need to be smarter with their cash.
Finally, they often don’t know where to start when implementing measures to enhance cybersecurity. Without access to cybersecurity experts, it can be challenging to know which controls/measures and strategic direction are best for their business, and without help, they risk heading off in a direction that is detrimental to the business, wasting both time and money.
Consequently, one key measure to enhance cybersecurity that can uplift the overall cybersecurity for small businesses is taking on a virtual CISO (chief information security officer). Small businesses can’t just hire a CISO full-time because the salary costs can be prohibitive. They also often don’t actually need a full-time employee there five days a week, all year round.
Taking on a virtual CISO (vCISO) on a fractional basis can give them the strategic direction and operational traction on risk remediation that a small business needs in its early stages. The reason why this measure can be so effective in enhancing cybersecurity for small businesses is because of the breadth of cybersecurity controls and measures that can be implemented through them. They can drive improvements to both strategic and operational cybersecurity controls and risk reduction measures.
A vCISO can provide not only the expert advice (on demand and independently) on strategic cybersecurity issues, but they can also run cyber incident management processes, help support regulatory compliance and audits (such as Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, and SOC 2), raise security awareness with staff, and make tangible improvements to risk reduction across the organization by implementing new controls on the technologies used.
Jonny Pelter, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Founder, CyPro
Educate Employees on Phishing Techniques
Small businesses have to prioritize educating their employees on phishing techniques. It’s the most common way that systems are breached, and the majority of breaches involve small businesses.
It costs nothing to keep security at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and it’s the best protection possible. Policies should include ongoing training. Make certain that everyone knows to consult a security expert when they receive strange communications, especially when those communications request unusual actions.
Bill Mann, Privacy Expert at Cyber Insider, Cyber Insider
Regular Data Recovery Protocols for Safety
One of the key measures to enhance cybersecurity for small accounting businesses is implementing regular data recovery protocols. During my 19 years as CEO of Tech Advisors, we’ve seen firsthand how critical regular backups are in mitigating the impact of cyber-attacks. In one instance, a client experienced a ransomware attack that encrypted their financial records. Fortunately, we had established a robust backup system that allowed us to restore their data quickly and minimize downtime.
Small accounting firms often handle sensitive financial data, making them attractive targets for cybercriminals. Ensuring data is backed up regularly and stored securely can protect against data loss and provide a safety net in case of an attack. It’s essential to store these on-site and off-site backups to safeguard against physical disasters like fire or flooding. Recovering quickly from a cyber incident can make a significant difference in maintaining business continuity and client trust.
Additionally, regularly testing these backup systems is crucial. More than backups are needed; they must be reliable and up-to-date. We recommend that our clients conduct periodic tests to verify that their data recovery process works effectively.
Konrad Martin, CEO, Tech Advisors
Apply Regular Software Updates and Patches
For Local Data Exchange, a key cybersecurity strategy has been the rigorous application of regular software updates and patch management. Keeping our systems and applications up to date is crucial in defending against new vulnerabilities and attacks.
This practice, although straightforward, effectively closes potential security gaps that could be exploited by cyber threats. Ensuring that updates are applied promptly across all devices has significantly bolstered our network’s security, providing a robust shield against potential cyber incursions.
Joshua Odmark, CIO and Founder, Local Data Exchange