Last Updated on Apr 15, 2020 by James W
WARNING: Your business is in danger. Cyber criminals are on the lookout for weaknesses in your system. If you leave yourself open to attack, you will lose your precious financial and customer data to hackers who seek to blackmail you, use your information for nefarious gains, or simply (and perhaps more creepily) to take pleasure in the downfall of your business. Once they have hit, it can be very difficult to resolve the issue, and it will take up valuable amounts of time and money to get your business and computer systems up and running again.
If any of the following are true, you need to take measures to protect your data immediately.
Criminals love your business because…
1. You don’t believe hackers are interested in your business. Unfortunately, your blase approach is the very thing that is leaving you susceptible to attack. Hackers will go for any business where they find a weakness, be that a small bedroom startup to a larger business venture. Nobody is safe! To protect your financial data and other sensitive files, you need to take note of the other items on this short list.
2. Your anti-virus software is not up to date. Therefore, your computer is open to attack from all manner of computer viruses and malware. These malicious bugs can slow down your computer, damage your system, and delete or corrupt your valuable data.
3. You are using the cloud. Your data and files are vulnerable to hackers working remotely, especially if they have had access to your passwords. There are ways to protect your data, especially when transferring your files, such as using secure and compliant data software. You should also use a reputable cloud storage facility to ensure your information won’t be misused or hacked into.
4. You are leaving your computers, smartphones, etc. unattended and without passwords. Cyber criminals are everywhere, and they are not only those dark figures scouring the web that we imagine them to be. Quite often, your employees at work are the problem. Seeing your tech unguarded, a disgruntled employee can steal information for his/her own gain.
5. Your employees leave their systems unguarded. It is necessary, therefore, to instil good habits into every staff member, as well as organising training into the dangers of cybercrime.
6. Your credit card information, customer data, and other pieces of sensitive information are stored on insecure email servers. US President Donald Trump was guilty of this himself. Email privacy is a must, so use a VPN service or an encrypted email account to protect the data you are sending over the net.
Protection is the best policy
Don’t let the hackers get a foothold. Be on the defense and secure your business and computer systems. As hinted at above, do each of the following:
– Use secure email servers.
– Protect your information behind firewalls and update your antivirus software.
– Password everything!
– Educate yourself and your employees against new and existing threats to your system.
By adhering to good practices, cyber criminals will have a tougher time getting into your system. Take heed of the advice we gave you, and take the relevant measures today.
