Did you know that 50% of small business owners think their businesses are too small to be targeted by the thieves of the virtual world? Thus, they do not believe that cybersecurity is a business concern. Contrary to popular belief, 72% of hacker attacks happen to smaller firms – firms with fewer than 100 employees! So how prepared is your SMB? Here’s a checklist to help you find out how vulnerable you are to these attacks.
1. Do you have Antivirus protection? An antivirus software program can help protect you from threats that originate from emails such as malware and virus attacks. However, the most striking fact is that 61% of small businesses don’t install any antivirus software. If you are one of them, then it’s time to change. However, it is extremely possible that phishing emails will still get through, as online criminals become more and more sophisticated. To read more about phishing emails, click here.
2. How sturdy is your Firewall? A good firewall system protects your computers from the variety of threats that exist in the virtual world. Examples include harmful cookies, viruses, worms and other such malicious programs used by hackers.
3. Do you use a Spam filter? Using a simple spam filter for your emails helps to keep junk out of your inbox. The bonus to having a good spam filter is that your employees save time, as they are not distracted by irrelevant emails, but the major perk here is that the potential virus and phishing threats are lessened as spam emails are unlikely to be opened.
4. Do you do back up your data regularly? Although backups don’t really protect your data, they are the most common way to recover it if data loss does happen. So, be sure you have a regular and reliable backup plan in place – and make sure that it is actually being deployed. And although data can be backed up and recovered, do note that your business is still likely to experience significant downtime while data is being recovered (and potentially reconfigured). To reduce downtime as much as possible, discuss your business continuity options with us (504-301-1094).
Data loss can prove very costly—especially to SMBs, sometimes even resulting in them having to close down. Prevention is certainly better than a cure in such cases. And because phishing, viruses, malware, and other online criminal behavior specifically targets small and mid-sized businesses, we urge you to discuss your cybersecurity options with us.
