Size doesn't matter when it comes to your business and cyber security.
There have been a number of high-profile reports in the news recently about large corporations, retailers and celebrities falling victim to online data breaches. In the case of certain retailers, hackers gained access to their customers' personal information, like credit card data.
What do these large corporations and your small business have in common? Both could be targeted by cyber criminals. In fact, according to a recent Symantec Internet Security report, the largest growth area for targeted cyber attacks was businesses with fewer than 250 employees.
Education is the first step
The most important first step to avoid a cyber attack is educating yourself and your employees. Small businesses should familiarize themselves with cyber threats such as viruses, worms, trojans, botnets, and other malware.
Since cyber threats – such as viruses – can often come in through your e-mail, strong email security practices are your business's first line of defence.
Strong email security
Here are six things you can do to improve your business's email security:
1. Implement a spam filter — this will help you get rid of most potentially harmful emails sent by cyber criminals.
2. Don't click on any suspicious links — even just clicking a link could give away sensitive information that a cyber criminal could use to hurt you and your business.
3. Enable HTTPS, which encrypts data and essentially makes it impossible for cyber criminals to access the information in your browser, for Web-based email.
4. Set strict password standards for all email accounts (business or personal) being used at work.
5. Whenever possible, use generic emails (such as info@companyname.com) for e-mail addresses that are posted in public places like on your website or on social media.
6. When an employee or contractor is terminated or indicates that they are leaving, deactivate their e-mail accounts. Abandoned e-mail accounts could be exploited by cyber criminals.
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