Protecting Your Small Business Online In 2023
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One of the most important parts of promoting your small online business is through your social media and website presence. In order to do digital marketing and effective customer service, you will need to have a solid online presence for your business. Unfortunately, cybercriminals and hackers will take advantage of your small business and try to scam you out of your hard earned money. You will need to take all the necessary steps to protect your business so you don’t risk being scammed. Here are all the ways you can protect your small business online in 2023.
Backup Your Data
One of the most important parts of business cyber security is backing up your data. Cybercriminals rely on being able to steal your data and leave you without it in order to scam you. If you don’t have a backup of your business data, they can ask for exorbitant amounts in order for it to be returned to you. Backing up your data doesn’t just protect you in case you get hacked – if your office is subjected to a natural disaster such as a fire or flood, if your data is backed up, you won’t have lost everything. There are many options for your business to back up its data, so make sure you start today to better protect your company’s information.
Train Your Employees
Your employees are your first line of defence when it comes to protecting your business online. That means they need to be thoroughly educated when it comes to knowing how to spot scamming techniques and be well-versed in spotting the telltale signs of hacking attempts. Investing in educating your employees is a great investment to make when it comes to protecting your company. For example, phishing attempts can usually be recognised as long as someone is educated in how to spot them. Phishing attempts are where a cyber scammer will contact someone pretending to be from an official organisation, such as a bank. The link that they send in the email will lead the person to malware or a fake website which will then steal your details. If one of your employees falls victim to these scams, you could lose a lot of money. It is important to ensure all of your staff are trained properly in how to combat cyber threats.
Have Two Factor Authentication
Two factor authentication is one of the best methods for protecting your company’s business accounts. If the passwords to your employee accounts are stolen and sold online, your whole business intranet could be compromised. However, two factor authentication would mean that in order to access business accounts, your employees would also need to provide a code that would be sent to their mobile phone. This makes the likelihood of a cyber hacker getting into every single one of your business accounts much less likely, and it is relatively easy to set up. It is one of the best ways business owners are protecting their employees’ data in the workplace.
Test Your Business Devices
One of the best ways to assess how much your business could be at risk from a cyber attack is to test your business devices. Many cyber security services offer something called penetration testing, which simulates a cyber attack against your business devices. The results from this penetration testing can let you know where your business devices, website and online presence are vulnerable to a cyber attack. This is an extremely useful way in which companies are better protecting their company online.
Stay Up To Date With Scam Trends
Knowing how scammers are changing and evolving their methods is one of the best ways you can stay ahead of them, and better protect your business. For example, phishing and ransomware attacks are on the rise in 2023, so taking the steps to better reinforce your company’s cyber safety plan against these methods is also one of the best things you can do. Reading business literature about common cyber threats and researching what cyber attacks have happened to businesses that month can also help you stay ahead of them. One of the scams that is on the rise lately is scammers selling your business information on the dark web. However, investing in dark web monitoring can allow you to detect when this is happening, and take the necessary steps to shut this down.
In order to better protect your business, you should be closely following cybersecurity news and blogs in order to find cutting edge advice and news on how hackers are evolving their tactics. This way, you will be able to educate yourself and your employees about how they can protect your small business – don’t let yourself be vulnerable to cyber criminals.
