Having an online presence is no doubt one of the emerging trends that businesses have to adapt to in order to remain relevant in the business circles. The Internet has made the world a global village thus presenting businesses with lots of growth opportunities. However, the Internet can also have detrimental effects on any business especially with the risk that comes with securing the business from online threats. Online insecurity is no doubt the biggest challenge that online entrepreneurs have to grapple with as it affects various aspects of their businesses.
Cybercriminals have continued to come up with sophisticated methods of attacking online platforms on which businesses operate and this threat has not spared the big online companies either. The threat posed by online criminals ranges from stealing of client’s personal data to completely sabotaging the entire operational platform. So, how can you secure your business from online threats?
Securing your company online
As much as the threat posed by cyber criminals is a thorn in the flesh for any business, you still stand a chance to neutralize this threat and ensure your business thrives. Herein an overview of ways through which you can secure your company on the online sphere.
Start by strengthening your passwords
Most businesses do not understand the importance of using strong passwords. Weak passwords have been responsible for most online theft cases since hackers can easily guess your simple password which is mainly influenced by things your love or important dates in your personal life or business history. Therefore, it is important that you use characters in your password that do not have any relationship with your personal life or business history. Moreover, ensure that you use mixed characters such as letters and numbers in the password.
Avoid clicking on strange links
Cybercriminals have perfected the art of infiltrating your data systems with malware which emanates from a simple link sent to your email. Through these links, the hackers are able to access your business data and even lock you out from accessing your own system. This allows the hackers to sniff through the data and commit their intended crime. To avoid this, ensure that you do not open any links that you are not familiar with. Instead, conduct due diligence to find out the source of the link.
Rethink policies for information management and distribution
Cybercrime is mainly centered around stealing information and companies that have weak information management systems are usually the easiest targets. Loss of confidential business information can largely affect any business and can even lead to closure. For that reason, companies need to come up with stringent measures that will streamline processes of data management and distribution. These measures will come in handy in ensuring that the source of the security breach can be traced in case it happens. Apart from creating regulatory measures, ensure that you categorize information. This will enable your company to determine which information is most confidential and how much priority should be accorded to the information. With properly identified and categorized information, your company can create special security systems to safeguard the data depending on how classified and important the information is.
Adopt a strict monitoring system
In order to detect any security threats on your online platforms, you should consider conducting regular monitoring exercises on your systems. Regularly monitoring the online systems will enable you to tie the loose ends through which hackers can infiltrate your systems. More to that, it is only through detecting threats early that you can craft new measures that will handle such attacks in the future. In addition, this move will go a long way in strengthening the overall security features of your system.
Protect your wireless networks and back up data
Wireless networks are an important tool for connecting the various technological systems and facilitating easy transfer of information. However, these networks can also be the loophole through which hackers may use to attack your system. Ensure that you secure your wireless network by using strong passwords. In addition, avoid sharing the wireless network passwords with unauthorized people. On the other hand, you should also back up your data to ensure that you do not lose important information in case of an attack that may call for a system overhaul. There are numerous ways through which you can back up your data with the most convenient being cloud storage which allows you to access your data from anywhere.
The security of your company online is a sure way of ensuring the survival of the company. As you think about growth strategies, ensure that the growth is secure. On that note, now that you know what it takes to protect your business from online threats, let nothing stop your company from reaching the levels you desire!
Author Bio
Ken Lynch is an enterprise software startup veteran, who has always been fascinated about what drives workers to work and how to make work more engaging. Ken founded Reciprocity to pursue just that. He has propelled Reciprocity’s success with this mission-based goal of engaging employees with the governance, risk, and compliance goals of their company in order to create more socially minded corporate citizens. Ken earned his BS in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT. Learn more at ReciprocityLabs.com.