Cybersecurity has become a leading concern for individuals and businesses of all sizes.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) says cyber-attacks cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars every year, with businesses being a prime target. The SBA website has a page devoted to helping small businesses protect their company.
“Small businesses in particular may lack the means to protect their digital systems,” warns the SBA. “Surveys have shown that many small businesses feel vulnerable to a cyberattack. Many small businesses cannot afford professional IT solutions. They may also lack time to devote to cyber security or may not know where to begin.”
SBA said there are steps every small business can take to protect itself beginning with understanding common threats and learning cyber security best practices. The agency provides five steps businesses should adopt.
- Train your employees
- Use antivirus software and keep all software updated
- Enable Multi-Factor Authentication
- Monitor and manage Cloud Service Provider (CSP) accounts
- Secure, protect, and back up sensitive data
While antivirus software is helpful, a growing field of cyber security is known as managed service providers. That is a third-party company that manages a company’s IT infrastructure, provides security, and helps train employees.
Chad Hartley, President and CEO of Premier Networx in Augusta, offered a webinar on cyber security for small businesses. He said 43% of cyber-attacks target small businesses.
“Many of the businesses don’t have the same level of protection as larger businesses. They don’t have the deep pockets to implement some strong firewall or the necessary endpoint detection,” he cautioned. “So, the consequences of a successful cyber-attack can be devastating.”
“It’s really simple. There are consumer-level products. And then there’s business professional products,” he explained. “Consumer-level products scan your hard drive for the Trojan horse viruses, for malware and whatnot. But what we put into place is a more robust business-grade antivirus that still does the traditional things, but it also uses artificial intelligence looking at the behavior of your computer.”
Hartley said professional-level products provide a “zero trust platform.”
Hartley and the SBA both stress that educating employees, the “end users”, on how to use online products, even as simple as email, is a vital component for any business’ cyber security. He said his company can provide ways to test how employees respond.
“End-user education is something that we offer our clients. We send them fake phishing emails,” he said. “We do those in different frequencies for our cyber clients. We do them monthly, we can do them quarterly, or we can do them manually, but end-user education is key to helping your company’s cyber defense. They are the weakest links.”
Important steps for all businesses to take are to ensure you and your employees use strong, unique passwords for each individual account. Multi-factor authentication adds another layer of protection between your system and cybercriminals. Also, be sure to encrypt any type of sensitive data, should a breach occur.
He said the average cost of a data breach for small businesses is $1.24 million, and that cost is growing every year.
For more information on what Premier Networx offers, go to https://premworx.com/
Business owners can also learn more about what the SBA advises at:
https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/manage-your-business/strengthen-your-cybersecurity
