How to Avoid Hackers As A Small Business

Cybersecurity gets a lot of attention when it goes wrong. There are often huge stories in the media, just a few months ago that the massive department store M&S was targeted and this threw everything into total chaos. It goes to show it really can happen to any business. As a business owner, having the right online security systems in place will help you to save time, money and even your business’ reputation.

Things like stolen customer data leading to fraud, for example, can be really hard to recover from. Customers these days are also far more aware of how their data is handled now, and their trust can be lost very quickly if something goes wrong. This kind of situation can take so much time, money and energy to put right and in the case of your reputation it might never be the same again.

Larger or regulated businesses often rely on a dedicated platform like Fenergo, to manage customer data and compliance requirements as systems become more complex. But whatever you choose, make sure you’re staying compliant and up to date and not causing yourself any issues later down the line.

Data Backup

Using cloud-based backup systems is one of the best ways to keep your information safe. That’s because cloud systems are encrypted for safety, which means your data is stored securely online rather than sitting on a physical hard drive you own.

This is especially useful if your actual physical computers get damaged or even stolen by criminals because it means that there’s no sensitive data sitting on them. It also means that many common viruses have nothing to access locally, viruses attacking your computer will come up blank since the information isn’t stored there.

Separate Payment Network

Separating different parts of your business (or micro segmentation) can be helpful in preventing cyber crime. Take your payment terminal network from your general store, for example. Having this on a completely separate network can massively reduce the likelihood of a successful online attack.

Cybercriminals often gain access through something simple like an infected email sent to staff. They’re then able to steal access details for your network and get straight into payment systems. Keeping this separate and having just one or two senior staff members with access means the success of an attack is significantly reduced.

It also helps contain problems quickly if something does slip through because it limits how much damage can be done if someone does manage to get in. Having things segmented like this means they have to work a lot harder to gain access, and there’s a much better chance they will simply give up.

Passwords

Passwords can be easily hacked, many businesses have ended up vulnerable as a criminal has simply been able to guess (or use a password guesser program to crack them quickly). Many of us tend to use the same kinds of words and number combinations, which is why relying on passwords alone is outdated for a lot of businesses now.

Tools like authenticator apps add an extra layer of protection by requiring a second step to log in so even if a password is stolen you have that second layer there. Passkeys are also becoming more common, removing the need for traditional passwords altogether and making it much harder for criminals to gain access.

Where passwords are still needed, using a password manager to create and store long, complex combinations can really reduce risk without making things harder day to day. Even this day in age when we have so much information about this danger, weak or reused passwords actually remain one of the most common ways systems are compromised.