Sadly, suspicious phishing emails are becoming more and more intelligent, putting your small business and its customers at risk.
Your business doesn’t need to invest thousands of pounds to protect itself from cyber threats – actually, it’s pretty simple…
Read our top tips for cyber protection in 2018.
Password Protection
This may seem obvious, but cyber criminals all over the world can gain access to personal accounts because of poor password protection.
The UK Government’s Cyber Aware Scheme advises that users create passwords by joining together “three random words to create a strong password”. This is an excellent way to create a hack proof password. If you want to make it even stronger add numbers and symbols.
Avoid using the following personal details when creating passwords:
- Current partner’s name
- Child’s name
- Family members’ names
- Pet’s name
- Place of birth
- Favourite holiday
- Favourite sports team
Find out more about password protection in out Cyber Security statistics infographic, download it here.
Update Software
Another suggestion made by the UK Government is that cyber users update software and apps regularly.
By doing this you are protecting your organisation from any third party issues that have been fixed by the software programmers – always keep up to date with this and monitor your software and applications regularly.
Train Employees
If you have staff working for your small business it is important that you take time to educate your employees about the risks of cyber attacks like WannaCry and Petya.
Some of the world’s largest organisations were affected by these ransomware attacks, proving how vulnerable your small business is.
Check that your employees understand how important your company’s data is and give them the support that they will need to protect it. This is especially important at present as the new GDPR regulations on data protection come into force on 25 May.
Cyber Essentials
Cyber Essentials is not free, but it is reasonably priced if you are part of a small business looking for cyber protection.
As most cyber attacks tap into basic vulnerabilities, often you will only need to make slight changes to your IT systems and software to protect them.
The wonderful thing about Cyber Essentials is that it sets out five key controls that will help sole traders and micro businesses to reduce potential cyber threats.
The scheme is suitable for organisations of all sizes, in all sectors and starts at just £300.
How can Supply2Gov help?
Find out more about the benefits of Cyber Essentials. Download the Cyber Essentials Scheme Summary for free.