How to Keep Your Business Safe From Online Scams and Hacking

How to keep your business safe from online scams and hacking is something that you should be well aware of. Read this guide for more.
how to keep your business safe from online scams and hacking

Big businesses have large IT teams dedicated solely to looking for areas where data leaks can occur and stopping them quickly when something does go wrong. These leaks are often small and quickly caught but happen frequently and that is why it is important to know how to keep your business safe from online scams and hacking.

If you are a small business owner, you may think that you are safe. After all, your business doesn’t have as much information to steal and sell. However, many cybersecurity threats target smaller businesses and growing businesses because they still have data to steal, and often far less security.

Let’s take a look at how to protect yourself and your business, even without spending the money to hire a large IT team for protection.

Make Sure Security Software is Regularly Updated

Don’t worry, you don’t have to go to the nearest electronics store to buy all the fancy protection equipment. Most of what you can do as a small business owner to protect yourself is free and can be done in the comfort of your office.

For example, one of the biggest areas where people go wrong is on their computers and devices. It is important to make sure that every electronic device you use is regularly updated, especially your security software.

Even if you are just using basic security programs that came on your computer, they need to be updated regularly. These updates are what lets the software keep up with common viruses and scams so that it knows what to block.

Many hackers and scammers take advantage of software that hasn’t been updated to find common loopholes through the software and use scams that the old software hasn’t been taught to look out for.

While missing one update here and there isn’t a big deal, it is a good idea to get into the habit of updating regularly. Set up automatic updates, or set one day a week when all updates can run.

Change Passwords Regularly

Changing passwords regularly can also help. Changing your passwords roughly every three months or when a potential threat pops up is recommended. By doing this, you can ensure that if your information is leaked, the hackers likely have an old password that isn’t used anymore. You can also make sure that they don’t have time to run a lot of passwords through your system and get lucky with one.

In addition to changing your passwords, you want to make sure your passwords are strong. While it can be hard to remember a password that has numbers, lowercase and uppercase letters, and symbols, they are important to maintaining a secure system.

Research has shown that having 11 characters with a mix of numbers, letters, and symbols can take hackers up to 400 years to crack. So if you are changing your passwords every couple of months, on top of that, you are maximizing the safety of your system.

Try to make passwords as random as possible. Don’t use a simple string of numbers or words that are closely connected to you, like your name. One of the best ways to come up with strong passwords is by making a phrase and substituting some of the letters for numbers and symbols.

For example, say you want your password to be something about your favorite hobby or trip, like RockClimbing2020, to commemorate your favorite rock climbing trip. All you have to do is something along the lines of r0cKCl!mB!ng$0$0, and you instantly have a password that is fairly easy to remember but very difficult to guess.

Another way to secure your system just a little more is with two-factor authentication. This is a second hurdle to jump through, such as checking your email or phone for a code. It can be a bit of a pain when you are trying to log in, but it adds another layer of difficulty for hackers.

Teach Your Staff Not to Provide Information or Open Shady Websites and Emails

Another huge area where scams usually break through security gaps is phishing. This usually involves someone pretending to be someone else to get information or access to something they shouldn’t.

On a non-professional scale, we see it with buying and selling things online. Someone will be asking for you to use a new website so they can send you money, only for you to realize it is a scam and that they actually took money from you.

These kinds of scams work in professional settings too. Your employees may open a shady link that installs a keylogger or virus onto the system or accidentally download something from a dangerous email.

Someone may also come up to your employees pretending to be someone of high status and want to access a secure room or server. If your team is flustered or kept unaware of the way that your business works, they may end up letting the wrong person in.

This is one reason why it is important to have regular meetings with your staff. Keep your employees up-to-date about the latest scams and hacking going around. You may also want to advise them not to do personal work on company computers, like checking personal emails and going to websites that aren’t secure.

Making sure that they log out of computers when they aren’t using them is another security step that can be useful. You will also want to warn them not to let anyone access the servers or give someone private information, no matter who they are claiming to be or how much pressure they are being put under.

These steps may seem small but can make a huge difference. There are websites and companies you can pay as well to regularly test your team by sending fake phishing emails and texts.

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