January 19, 2018
Homefield IT
IT Consulting & StrategySecurityConstructionEducationFinanceHealthcareLegalReal Estate
Over half (55%) of small to medium sized businesses were victims of cyber attacks within the last 12 months. That being said, it’s more important than ever for small businesses to stay vigilant and avoid a cyber attack at all costs. Here are just a few expert tips to help your business prevent a cyber attack or security breach.
Create And Enforce Internal Security Policies
It may sound surprising, but a great number of business security breaches actually occur within the business itself as opposed to originating from an external threat. Usually, this will occur when an employee clicks on a link in an email that contains phishing software. Other times, employees simply use poor passwords that are easily guessed. That’s why educating your employees and forming clear security policies is the first step to gaining control of your IT security. Keep all employees on the same page regarding password protections and provide quarterly training sessions to keep employees updated with the latest security information.
Don’t Ignore Update Requests
Your employees have probably done this before — instead of letting their computers update as usual, they’ll keep delaying the process because it’s just not a convenient time for an update. This can weaken your business’s security and prevents your business from achieving true IT optimization and efficiency. Make sure all your employees are paying attention to their update notifications and are installing and implementing updates as soon as possible after they become available.
Consider A Managed Services Provider
In addition to taking the previous two preventative measures, your business should also highly consider investing in reliable IT management such as a managed services model to optimize computer network maintenance and greatly reduce or even effectively eliminate the possibility of a cyber attack. In fact, for 38% of companies of all sizes, enhanced security and compliance was the reason for using a managed services provider. Yes, hiring an IT service provider does require an additional investment, but for many businesses, the peace of mind that accompanies is absolutely priceless — not to mention the money and frustration you may be saving if a cyberattack were to occur.
Ultimately, knowing how to keep your business’s IT infrastructure as secure as possible is the key to preventing a cyber attack. For more information about IT service providers, contact Manhattan Tech Support.
