Cybersecurity isn’t just a concern for large corporations; every organization, regardless of size or industry, is a target. Small business cybersecurity is more important than ever. Cyberattacks are not a matter of “if” but “when.” However, you don’t need a huge IT security budget for protection; there are things you can even do today! Practicing good cyber hygiene and implementing simple steps can make a big difference.
Here are three simple, but helpful and quick IT security fixes for small business that you can act today to protect your organization from a cyberattack: fix your password practices, update outdated software, and train your team to spot phishing.
- Fix Your Password Practices
Weak, reused, or compromised passwords are one of the easiest ways for cybercriminals to gain access to your systems. Many data breaches still involve weak password management. Even if you have protections in place, all it takes is one compromised login to expose your system. This is especially dangerous for organizations who have the majority of their work online, which is basically everyone. These vulnerabilities can also make your organization a target for ransomware prevention and endpoint protection strategies.
There are some things you can do today to fix your password practices and improve your cybersecurity posture today.
- Enforce strong password policies. This means a mix of letters, numbers, and special characters and requires a minimum length.
- Prohibit password reuse across your system. Changing your password frequently and not reusing old password enforces your safety.
- Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all critical platforms. This includes emails, storage, VPN, and more.
- Use a service to help store strong, unique passwords without having to remember them. Therefore, your password can be extremely complex and long, without you having to worry about remembering it.
Fixing your password practices does not ensure your organization will be safe from an attack, but it is one simple thing that you can do today to strengthen your cybersecurity. Implementing a company-wide password policy can help to standardize good practices across your organization and help force people to follow the safe password protocol. These are essential MSP tips for preventing cyber threats.
- Update Outdated Software
Outdated software is similar to leaving your front door wide open when someone is trying to break into your house. Patch management and regularly updating systems can drastically reduce risk. Updating software is necessary to fix network vulnerabilities and when you skip updates, you are helping lead the way for attackers.
Many major cyberattacks, including ransomware incidents, aren’t successful due to super complex hacking abilities, but simply because the organization delayed installing critical security patches that they needed.
Taking steps to protect from cyberattacks often starts with something as simple as regularly updating your systems. There are many things that you can do today to update outdated software so you can take a few steps to protect yourself with business IT security best practices.
- Enable automatic updates on all services. This includes all servers, web browsers, routers, software, and more.
- Inventory all software and systems your company uses to ensure everything is up to date. This includes things that may be less obvious than a simple computer like a router and smart devices. Once you know everything that needs continuous updates, make sure you keep updating them and that updates don’t fall through the cracks.
- Retire any unsupported software. If a program no longer receives security updates, it is probably a liability. You should replace it with a modern alternative that can be actively monitored and updated. This is where managed IT services from a provider like TAG Solutions is important.
Start with these fixes to make sure you are updating your outdated software. However, you should schedule regular audits to make sure that everything stays current. Cybersecurity is not a one-time fix.
- Train Your Team to Spot Phishing.
Phishing attacks areone of the most common and effective cyberattack methods. It only takes one employee clicking on a bad link to compromise your entire network. Unfortunately, many employees don’t always know that phishing looks like or how to avoid it. Building employee security awareness is one of the most inexpensive ways to improve your cybersecurity.
In order to help your team understand and spot phishing, there are several things that you can do today. First, you can host a training session about the signs of phishing. You should tell your employees to look for suspicious attachments, typos, weird grammar, urgent language, fake sender addresses that seem like legit contacts, and more.
You should also train your employees to think before they click on a link. If someone isn’t sure if something is real or not, encourage them to ask a manager or the “sender.” Train your employees to verify unexpected messages, especially if they are asking for sensitive information or unusual things in the message. Finally, you can create a reporting process so that employees can easily flag suspicious messages. This can also help bring awareness to phishing for other employees who may have gotten the same, or similar messages.
It is important to run internal phishing simulations to test your team’s awareness in real-world scenarios. This will help to highlight risks and provide a lot of insight into how to improve. The simulations will let you know how knowledgeable your employees are and how vulnerable they may be to phishing, a huge aspect of cyber threat prevention.
Cybersecurity may seem too complex or scary but improving your organization’s security doesn’t need to be overwhelming. By implementing these 3 things: password practices, software updates, and phishing awareness- you are already making big steps toward how to protect your business from a cyberattack. Here at TAG Solutions, we can help you build smart, scalable, and secure IT solutions. If you need help developing your cybersecurity, implementing better tools, or thinking you may be at risk, we are here to help! Our MSP cybersecutity offerings are tailored to deliver IT services for small businesses that need reliable and proactive protection.
