When you’re about to start a new business, you’ll likely be making countless decisions about what it takes to run the company. One of the most important decisions to make early on is how your business will handle IT security.
IT security should always be a priority for businesses because it helps protect your data from theft or threats such as ransomware and phishing scams. If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to ensure that you have a comprehensive IT security plan.
Integrating IT security into your company’s day-to-day operations is the best way to protect your business from malicious cyber attacks. Through an IT security plan, or partnering with a managed IT firm like MyTek, your company can ensure that the systems it owns or distributes are protected from increasingly sophisticated hackers.
1. Keeps Your Software and Systems Fully Up to Date
Whether you are using a software system as your accounting software or have purchased a new computer, you should ensure that the software programs in your company are always up to date.
By staying updated and avoiding out-of-date systems, you will be able to reduce the chances of malware such as ransomware infecting your devices. By keeping your software and systems up-to-date, you’ll also be able to stop hackers from gaining access through loopholes in older versions of OS and applications.
2. Helps to Prevent Malicious Attacks
A comprehensive IT security plan helps you to keep your business protected from malicious attacks. For instance, it will help you develop an effective disaster recovery plan that you can use in case of data breaches or natural disasters. Data breaches can compromise your company’s reputation and lead to irreplaceable losses, so you must protect against them.
3. Helps to Prevent Intellectual Property Theft
Intellectual property theft can be just as damaging as a data breach. When your company’s intellectual property is stolen, it can lead to hefty damages that you will have to pay.
For instance, in September 2016, a large-scale ransomware attack hit the National Health Service in England. The hackers infiltrated the system through a vulnerability, encrypted data held on the NHS database and demanded a ransom for its return, totaling about £350,000.
The best way to avoid such situations is by preparing for the worst. You can do this by implementing an IT security plan that will allow you to keep your information safe.
4. Helps to Lower Insurance Costs
Insurance policies are essential for businesses and help them recover from natural disasters or security threats. However, if you don’t invest in comprehensive IT security, your company will have difficulties receiving compensation after a data breach or a malware attack.
5. Helps to Boost Employee Productivity
A comprehensive IT security plan will also make your employees more productive by allowing them to focus on their jobs and not worry about data breaches. Employees need assurance that their data is safe and can be accessed at a moment’s notice because they will become less motivated if they feel unsafe or insecure at work.
Steps You Can Take Ahead of Time to Establish a Much More Secure Business Environment
1. Use Strict Password Protection
With the hacks that have been going on at companies like Target and Home Depot, it’s clear that hackers are becoming more sophisticated in their methods of stealing data. A password protection system is one of the best ways to prevent hackers from stealing your business’s data.
Using a password-protected system will ensure that every employee has to use a unique password for every account they have access to. Ensuring all employees know the importance of using a hard-to-crack password will help you ensure that no one at your company is vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
2. Make Sure That Every Employee Is Educated On the Dangers of Getting Phished
For IT security, it’s important to ensure that every employee at your company knows how to spot a phishing attack. Phishing scams are everywhere and hackers can easily use them in an attempt to steal sensitive business data.
One of the best ways to prevent employees at your company from falling for phishing attacks is by creating a program that educates them on this dangerous method of stealing information.
3. Make Sure That Your Business Has the Right Tools in Place to Fight Off Cyber Attacks
When creating an IT security plan, it’s important to ensure that your company has the right tools to make fighting off a cyber-attack easier. That’s why it’s so important to ensure that all employees at your company are trained to spot a cyber attack and then take the appropriate measures.
4. Develop Effective Identity Theft Procedures
Identity theft is becoming increasingly common, so you must have a good way of protecting your customers’ identities. The best way to do this is by implementing an IT security plan, which will help keep your company’s data safe from cyber-attacks.
5. Create A Preventive Plan
If you are running a business, you know that having an IT security plan is important. By creating a preventive plan that ensures that all employees know the importance of practicing safe computing habits, you’ll be able to create the best possible conditions for your company’s security.
The Top Information Security Threats
Organizations must emphasize the significance of information security and take action to fight the most common risks to data security. Among the most pressing data safety issues are third-party exposure, social engineering, malware, patch management, ransomware and general data potential vulnerabilities.
1. Third-Party Exposure
Organizations often fail to protect their data and network from third-party exposures. They rely on the security measures of third parties to keep their data safe. Still, when these third parties experience a vulnerability, there is a high risk of stolen information.
2. Social Engineering
Most security breaches stem from employees unintentionally enabling hackers to access resources and data. Social engineering attacks are a significant threat because they take advantage of people instead of relying on computer software vulnerabilities. Phishing attempts are one example of this.
3. Malware
Viruses and other malicious software infect a company’s computer systems, steal sensitive information and shut down the company’s commercial operations.
4. Patch Management
Organizations must maintain proper web server software updates, including security updates, to ensure that the latest version of these programs is utilized and potential vulnerabilities fixed.
5. Ransomware
When a ransomware attack targets a network, it encrypts all of the data on that network and demands payment before releasing it. As a result of the ransom and the assault itself, there might be financial and reputational consequences.
6. General Data Potential Vulnerabilities
Any system flaw may be exploited to launch a cyber-attack. Outdated technology, insecure networks, and a lack of personnel training are potential sources of danger.
Employees may also be in danger if the firm allows them to use their own devices for work, which you may not adequately safeguard. A well-thought-out risk assessment strategy may help determine the extent to which your firm is in danger.
Fighting off cyber-attacks takes more than just one security plan. If you want to ensure that your company stays as safe from hackers as possible, then you should ensure that IT security is part of every aspect of your business plan.
