Hackers are using more sophisticated methods to steal data from businesses regardless of size. Your financial data may be vulnerable to attacks and phishing techniques. A compromised network has negative effects beyond the confines of your office. Your customers might look for other service providers or business partners when they find out you have a poor cyber security policy in place. They don’t want to lose their personal or their own financial data to someone with dubious agendas.

As your business grows, you’ll want to secure your company’s and your customers’ personal and financial information. One of the ways to achieve this is to improve your system’s cyber security.

These are some of the cyber security improvement practices you can implement.

Conduct a Cyber Security Review

Before you implement cyber security improvement practices, conduct an audit of your business and its network. The audit enables you to determine weaknesses in your security and the possible threats you might encounter. You might be secure in one aspect of your network but exposed to hackers and phishing in others. You might already have policies in place; however, you might need to update these as your organization and customer base grows. Create use policies for access to your network and work devices. Update the security of your website to prevent hackers from infiltrating it.       

Educate Employees about Cyber Security Threats

Educate your team about cyber threats and the different techniques that a hacker might use to infiltrate a network or steal identities. This proactive approach is a companywide effort to secure financial and personal information. Some of the things you can teach your staff include:

• Proper and secure browsing activity.
• Not downloading or opening dubious files or emails.
• Avoid clicking unverified and unfamiliar links.
• Read URLs carefully before clicking.

These are just some of the practices you can implement in your company to improve cyber security. You can send materials such as videos, PowerPoint presentations, documents, and other types of content to educate your employees about cyber security.

Use Strong Passwords

One of the simplest cyber security improvement practices you can implement is to use stronger passwords. A hacker can brute force attack an account until they identify a password. They use automated programs that use simple combinations until they unlock an account. This works on obvious passwords that use simple word and number combinations. Some hackers try to get as much information as possible from a victim. Details such as birthdays, maiden names, job description, high school teacher, and other personal information. They then use these to make an educated guess about a victim’s possible password to infiltrate their account.

Use strong passwords to protect your company’s and customers’ financial and personal data. Use a combination of numbers, capitalized and small caps letters, and symbols. This type of password is difficult to determine.

Multifactor Authentication

Add another layer of security by using multifactor authentication. This addition makes it difficult for hackers to steal financial information or infiltrate your company’s system. They must hack multiple devices to succeed when you use multifactor authentication. You have the option to receive codes on your mobile devices or email before opening an account or pushing a transaction through.

These are cyber security improvement practices you can implement to protect your financial and personal data.

What are the advantages of better cyber security?

Improving your company’s cyber security is important because it protects your business from cyber threats that hackers employ. Installing cloud-based technology and using the latest certificates and software keeps your company’s and customers’ financial and personal information safe. All the online transactions processed through your system and website will be secure because of the layers of encryption and security you installed. Cyber security makes it difficult or impossible for a hacker to infiltrate your system and network.

Once you build up your reputation as a company that values the privacy and data security of customers, you’ll attract more customers that may boost sales and revenue. It also allows you to detect viruses, malware, ransomware, and other types of threats your business may encounter. Early detection prevents problems that a compromised network present.

Updating your cyber security policies and practices avoids possible fines and penalties. You have to comply with regulations that your target market follows. Some countries may have different protocols compared to your current location. Violating regulations may not just result in fines, but also possible exclusion from a certain market.

Downtime that viruses and malware cause disrupt the flow and continuity of the work and services you do. Updating your cyber security policies and practices prevents this problem from occurring and improves business continuity. Business continuity enables your team to work efficiently and productively.

You might be implementing a hybrid set up for your company. Some employees might be working in another city or country. A secure and updated network makes working remotely safe for your employees. You don’t have to worry about hackers getting into your system whenever your team isn’t working in your office. The encryptions and password-protected network and materials ensure non-employees have no access.

What happens when your business has poor cyber security?

Updating your business’ cyber security may be expensive; however, the problems created by an exposed and unprotected network may cost your company more.

An unprotected system is open to hackers that can employ several types of cyber attacks such as:

• Phishing
• Installation of viruses, malware, spyware, and others
• Data and identity theft
• Code injection attacks
• Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack

These are some of the threats your network might encounter if you leave it vulnerable and unprotected.

Constant business continuity disruptions, down times, and virus or malware infections have a negative impact on your brand’s reputation. You might lose customers because they think that you might lose their data to hackers. Disruptions also affect the productivity and efficiency of your employees. Update your security network regularly to avoid these problems.

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