5 Cybersecurity Tips to Elevate Your Business Data Protection

We live in a world where cybersecurity has become a raging topic around the world.

This should come as no surprise, of course, because the more we embrace digital technology, the higher the risks of data theft and leaks.

No matter how small your business may be, or how big your brand has become, you are never under the hackers’ radar.

Nefarious online activity is all-too-present nowadays, and if you don’t invest in cybersecurity you are putting your brand in jeopardy.

It takes a single cyber attack to tarnish your reputation and put you under, especially during the trying times of the COVID crisis.

To help your company grow while avoiding cyber threats, you will need to take your security measures to the next level.

Fortunately, this doesn’t mean that you need to break the bank to protect your business. In fact, there are several solutions you can employ immediately that will ensure stellar data security in the online world. Here’s what you need to do.

Start by conducting a cybersecurity audit

First things first, you can’t know how to improve your cybersecurity if you’re not aware of its fallacies and weak points.

This is why you need to conduct a thorough cybersecurity audit, which can be done by your in-house IT experts or a dedicated external team. In fact, the best way to spot weaknesses in your security system is to run an internal audit and then bring in outside help.

External experts and consultants can bring a fresh pair of eyes to the issue and spot weaknesses in your firewalls that your in-house IT staff may have missed.

They may also employ more advanced testing and probing solutions to really stress your security system and push it to its limits. Once a breaking point has been identified, you’ll know where your weaknesses lie. This will allow you to strengthen your security across the board.

Begin training and educating your employees on data protection

Nowadays, your employees can be your biggest assets or your greatest weakness depending on their literacy in data protection and safety in the online world.
If you don’t invest in employee training and education on cybersecurity, you’re running the risk of falling prey to scammers and hackers, or simply leaking sensitive business data without even knowing.

Your employees might give away sensitive information to a scammer, or they might download malware onto the system and infect your entire network.
Needless to say, you cannot let this happen if you are to prevent a data breach and a PR disaster. Make sure to bring in external cybersecurity experts to educate your employees through department-specific workshops.

Every employee needs to know how to keep their information safe online, and how to handle company data to prevent leaks and security breaches.

Be sure to take a personalized approach and follow up on every lecture to ensure every employee is on board with the program.

Adopt enterprise-level cybersecurity solutions

When in doubt, bank on the most comprehensive security solutions on the market. Nowadays, some of the most popular enterprise cloud providers offer the best industry-leading security out there, ranging from software and hardware firewalls to internet access management, and from secure web gateways to complete firewall platforms with a host of tools and solutions.

If your business is on the cloud, or if you’re looking to migrate your company to the cloud, you need to find the right provider.

The best thing you can do is to conduct thorough research and compare vendors, paying special attention to the security solutions they employ.

Ideally, their enterprise cloud and network security solutions should ensure that your company’s data remains safely stored at all times.

What’s more, your provider needs to ensure that every device in your network is protected from cyber threats.
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Integrate a password management tool and enable two-factor authentication

All this talk about fancy security systems can make you forget about two very simple security measures you can employ yourself: better passwords and two-factor authentication.
The former is paramount to employee safety online because your team members probably have numerous passwords for all the accounts and devices they use for work.

Don’t rely on your employees to create strong passwords, and instead use a password management tool to foster cybersecurity and privacy in the workplace.

Next, be sure to embrace a layered approach to application and device protection by enabling two-factor authentication.

This is a simple and effective way to authenticate the user and prevent scammers and hackers from hijacking a device or an account.

With so many employees, accounts, apps, and devices in your business, two-factor authentication can make all the difference, so be sure to use it to your advantage.

Make sure to close all back doors to your system

Hackers and scammers are not dumb – they will exploit all avenues of approach when probing your system. One of the most overlooked security holes can be an old employee account.

Remember, your employees are using a variety of digital tools like email, communication software, PM tools, messaging apps, and the like in order to do their job efficiently.

These are all potential backdoors to your system. To prevent unwanted entry, you need to monitor these accounts and delete all log-in information that is outdated or no longer in use.

When an employee leaves your company, erase them from the system immediately to prevent entry through these often-overlooked backdoors.
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Wrapping up

Elevating cybersecurity should be one of your top priorities if your goal is to preserve your brand’s reputation over the long term.

Be sure to follow these tips and implement these security measures to keep your business, employees, and customers’ data safe at all times.

Tamara Novitović

Tamara is a SaaS content specialist that has many articles published with the main focus on companies that want their brand to grow in the fast-changing and demanding market. Her personal favorites are the successes of small SaaS businesses, IT startups, and tech entrepreneurs.