Is Your Business Suffering From Poor IT Security Procedures?
It doesn’t take many mornings of listening to or reading the news to realize that companies are facing a new type of crisis in America and around the world.
Malware, ransomware, phishing emails — these are only a few of the ways that cybercriminals are breaching your IT security and wreaking havoc throughout the business communities. Small to mid-size businesses are particularly vulnerable, with more than 65% of businesses surveyed experiencing a breach in the past 12-18 months. Of these organizations, many are unable to maintain operations due to the devastating nature of the attack and are forced to go out of business. With the extreme shortage of cybersecurity professionals in the marketplace, it’s no surprise that companies are turning to trusted IT security experts as a local solution.
What Are the Best Practices for Small Business IT Security?
Aside from having the right tools and technology in place, there are several procedures that you can put in place to help protect your company from cyberattacks. They include:
- Creating a cycle of ongoing education, ensuring that anyone with local or remote access to your business systems completes the training.
- Define robust password requirements and a regular schedule for changing security access information.
- Review access levels for individuals within your organization, reducing access to systems that are no longer required for day-to-day operations — especially for protected or confidential information.
- Maintain a proactive schedule of upgrades for software and hardware, including IoT devices such as smart TVs, WiFi network devices and more.
- Audit the various databases that are used to gather customer information, looking for ways to consolidate multiple storage locations and simplify reporting mechanisms.
- Put an active monitoring solution in place as well as machine monitoring that looks for suspicious behavior and automatically takes certain steps based on your business requirements.
- Review the security at key business partners that may have access to your business systems to ensure they are following security best-practices.
- Ensure that you have a robust firewall in place, as well as web-based filtering for your emails and network traffic.
- Document cybersecurity practices, allowing you to quickly trigger breach protocol in the event of a security incident.
- Define a mobile device management procedure to ensure your staff members are able to safely connect to their device of choice without putting the business at undue risk.
While this isn’t an exhaustive list, these are all components of a successful cybersecurity strategy for your business.
At Rea & Associates, we work with organizations of all sizes to ensure that you have the latest enterprise-scale security solutions and access to proactive expertise. We understand the challenges that businesses are facing and are always looking for ways to improve the security posture of our clients. From our active monitoring to our regular service reviews, you will appreciate the attention that you receive from the professionals at Rea & Associates. Contact us today at (330) 236-1011 for more information or to schedule your free initial consultation.
