How you can better protect your small business from cyber criminals

Small businesses are becoming increasingly dependent on devices, services and applications that connect to the internet such as smartphones, email, social media, and cloud computing services. This helps increase efficiency and revenues. Through this dependence they become larger targets for cyber criminals. Small businesses and home networks are becoming easy targets as they do not have sufficient fund to set aside for safeguarding their information and networks. The ways business owners be harmed by cyber criminals include theft of customer and employees Personally Identifiable Information (PII), theft of customers credit card information, denial of services to websites and eCommerce sites, shutdown of systems, theft of funds from bank accounts.

As a result, it is crucial for small businesses and home based networks to take proper cybersecurity measures - measures to protect all computing devices, networks, and information – to ensure their business data remains secure and their business running smoothly. There are various cost effective or low cost measure resources available.

The followings are useful guides for small businesses to protect their network, data and business from cyber criminals. However, these are by no means comprehensive. Each guide is preceded by a question. If your answer is yes for each question, then you are well prepared. Remember that no system or network can be hundred per cent secured. For advanced technical solutions or in the case of breach, it’s advised to seek highly qualified professional or third party solutions. At the end of this article, I provided some additional resources for further reference.

11.    Do you use strong password security?

In order to protect your user name and password, your password should follow the standard security which includes:

·         A combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols

·         A minimum of 8 characters, avoiding common words and dates

·         Password is not used for any other credential. Using only one password for all your account means that if your password is stolen, then all your accounts can easily be compromised.

·         Changing passwords regularly. Changing password every six month is recommended.

·         Deploy multi-factor authentication.

22.      Do you have a control mechanism to prevent unauthorized access to your system and data?

You must be able to restrict privileged access to your system and data. Unauthorized access and alteration of data or system can be prevented through preventative and detective controls. Proper firewall setup and restricted internet access are few to mention.

33.      Do you prevent unauthorized programs or software from running in your system?

You only allow trusted programs to be executed on your system. By using restricting policies or application whitelisting, you can allow only trusted software and prevent unauthorized or malicious software from running.

44.      Do you apply anti-virus, email and website filters?

·         Apply updated anti-virus software and web security software;

·         Avoid opening email attachments from unknown sources and suspicious emails;

55.      Do you have secure standard operating system?

Operating systems are the core piece of software running in all information systems. The security of operating systems is vital to all information and information systems. Avoid unsupported and outdated operating systems which present risks to your network and critical data. One example is Windows XP. Microsoft has ended support for windows XP. This means that PCs running Windows XP will not be secure and will be at risk for infection. You must upgrade your PC to most recent versions like windows 7 or 10.

66.      Do you automatically update software in you system?

A software update is also known as a “Patch”. A software update either enhance (improve) performance, or fix security vulnerability or both.  If you do not update your software in your pc, it’s very likely that you may get some kind of virus or malware or you may even be hacked or hijacked. Therefore, it’s very important to make an automatic software updates to your PC or system.

77.      Do you back up your data regularly?

Your data is essential for smooth running of your daily business. Data loss could happen any time for any reason. Physical failure of your PC, accidental error, theft, fire, and flood are some of the reasons. Most importantly, computer viruses infecting you PC often delete or corrupt you data. That’s why backing up your data is very important. ‘Backing up you data’ means making a copy of your most important files. This copied data can then be used if the original files are lost. This second copy should be kept in a different location in a secured environment.

88.      Are your mobile devices secured and their data encrypted?

Smartphones, tablets, laptops, and notebook computers are considered as mobile devices. Like desk top computers, mobile devices are used to access, process and store data. However, their portable nature makes them more susceptible to theft and data loss than desktops. Hence, you have to make sure that your mobile devices are secured with password and their data are encrypted.

Additional Resources:

• National Cyber Security Alliance:

• NIST Computer Security Resource Center:

• US Chamber of Commerce Internet Security Essentials for Small Business