Some advice from BT on how to protect your small business if you lack the resources much larger organisations can afford to have:
Understand the risks – it’s crucial to know what different types of cybercrime there are and how to identify them, as they could lead to anything from sensitive data being stolen, to your website going down, to blackmail and extortion. Take time to understand what types of cyber-attacks you are most vulnerable to, and how you can prevent them. The National Cyber Security Centre’s Small Business Guide provides great practical advice.
Get the fundamentals in place – for example: always make sure your operating system and programs are updated to the latest version to protect against the latest threats; make sure you have anti-virus on your devices; create a different strong password for each account that you use; enable multi-factor authentication (i.e. a combination of more than one log-in steps) where available. Further guidance is available here.
Back up your data – All businesses, regardless of size, should take regular backups of their important data that can be easily accessed and restored. By doing this, you are massively less susceptible to things like ransomware attacks. Identify the essential data that you could not function without, and ensure it’s backed-up via the cloud or on a separate device from your main computers.
People are an organisation’s last line of defence and a successful hack often relies on the decisions they make, so breeding a culture of responsibility is a key consideration. Organisations are being urged to put processes and policies in place that reduce the possibility of human error and the opportunity for criminals to social engineer staff. People make mistakes and managers are also encouraged not to play the blame game when they do, so that workers will come forward and report incidents, no matter how minor.
Source: CBI
Informed Sauce is hosting an Infinidat-sponsored event in London on 2 December about protecting businesses from cyber crime.
Speakers include a member of the Metropolitan Police and sponsor Infinidat’s EMEA Field CTO. Short talks will be followed by a panel-led, room-wide moderated discussion, with plenty of opportunities for you to contribute your thoughts and ask questions.
Visit the event microsite for more details and to sign up.