Knowledge is Power: It’s Time to Educate Yourself as a Small Business Owner About the Top 4 Cyber Security Threats Facing You

As a small business owner, you know just how important it is to ensure that you’re protecting every aspect of your business. Whether you’re protecting your intellectual property, getting multiple types of insurance, or installing video surveillance systems, you know that all of these protective measures are vital to keeping your business safe.

In addition to these protections, it’s important to make sure that you have a strong cyber security system in place and it’s equally important to make sure that you’re aware of the many cyber security threats that all business owners are facing every day. Read below to learn more about the top 4 cyber threats that you need to be aware of:

 Cyber Security Threats – Unsecured Wi-Fi

Ensuring that you have a secured wi-fi network is of the utmost importance, however, many small to medium business owners lack the resources or know-how in order to do this. Here are some tips to help make sure you have a secure network: 

1. Place you router in a physically secure location
2. Change the default router login information and choose a password with at least 15 characters and change this password on a regular basis.
3. Change the Network Name
4. Update Firmware and Software by checking to see if any updates are available. Once you have these installed, they typically self-update. 
5. Use WPA2
6. Double Up on Firewalls
7. Create Private and Public Access
8. Identify and Eliminate Any Rogue APs
9. Disable WPS
10. Disable DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). Setting this up manually is labor intensive but worth it. 

Threats to Your Cyber Security – Phishing

In a nutshell, Phishing is the attempt to bait users into opening an email, giving hackers access to introduce ransomware, steal information, and even steal money from accounts. It goes without saying why this is a huge threat to anyone and especially your business. 

Malware – The Third Biggest Cyber Security Threat

What is Malware? Simply put, it’s malicious code that hackers use to get access to various pieces of information such as networks, steal data, and even destroy data on your computer. It can come from bad downloads, spam emails, or by being connected to other infected devices. This can lead to damaging effects that lead to high costs in replacing and or repairing your devices. 

Physical Theft – The Fourth Largest Cyber Security Threat

According to the FCC

Laptops can be particularly easy targets for theft or can be lost, so lock them up when unattended. Make sure a separate user account is created for each employee and require strong passwords. Administrative privileges should only be given to trusted IT staff and key personnel.

Overall, physical theft can certainly cause pain for your bottom line. Even with insurance to protect your assets, there are plenty of costs that can come from these unfortunate events. But when it comes to stealing technology from your business you’ve not only lost the physical device itself, you’ve lost the sensitive information that is on it such as account information, passwords that are saved on the device to things such as your website and other software you may use to operate your business. This can be not only costly, but time consuming to bounce back from as well. 

Get An Initial Risk Assessment

It’s important to make sure that you’re protecting your business in every way and especially when it comes to cybersecurity. One of the best ways to ensure these protections is by working with cyber security experts who will consistently work to protect your network, devices, and other technological aspects of your business.

Don’t wait to secure your business and book a free consultation for an initial risk assessment today.