Marriott Hotels, British Airways, Facebook just to name a few of the biggest cases we’ve seen in recent times...Countless people’s email and social media accounts experience this everyday...
What are we drawing your attention to? If you haven’t guessed it, online hacking.
Security is a core focus within our business here at Advantage. Over 3 billion records have been breached over the last 6 years & the level and sophistication of these threats is ever increasing. However, there are steps we can take to help somewhat safeguard ourselves against online hacking and malware, just by making improvements to our own online security.
With this in mind our latest tips and tricks article provides you with 7 of the very best tips on how to protect your business from online hacking.
Tip 1: Build stronger passwords
Most people often ignore this even though it is a pretty obvious way of protecting your business. Make sure that any password you create has over 8 characters & uses a combination of both upper- and lower-case letters as well as symbols.
Tip 2: Change your passwords every so often and make sure that you never use the same password on different platforms
This goes without saying but with multiple passwords setup, it makes it harder for hackers to gain access to all your accounts and devices.
Tip 3: Think outside the box with your security question answers
Some of the easiest things for hackers to find out are things such as where you went to school or your father’s name. To make it harder for hackers, think outside the box for some unconventional answers to these questions.
Tip 4: Make sure that you have the best anti-virus, anti-malware/spyware and a top of the range firewall in place
This software combines to safeguard your systems against any malicious programs.
Find out more about our security solutions today.
Tip 5: Ensure that you select the right Cloud service for your business
It is so important to make sure that your business selects the right Cloud service as it will be handling sensitive data. Make sure that you only use Cloud services which encrypt data at rest and in transit. To fully protect yourself, you might look to use something like Microsoft Azure.
Tip 6: Make sure your aware of phishing emails
If you receive either a file or a link to a website which you don’t recognise, make sure you think before you click even if it looks like a legitimate source. The first thing you can do is to check the sender email address by hovering over the link, is this person really who they claim to be? [You can find out more about how to spot a phishing email here]. Phishing doesn’t only happen via email it can also happen across social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and instant messaging so be aware of it!
Tip 7: Keep all your software up to date and up to scratch
Take the necessary steps to ensure that potential hackers are unable to access your computer due to a simple weakness such as out of date programs. Make sure that you keep your operating system and all the software on your computer updated. You can set these up to be updated automatically or better still if you are using an older version of Windows such as 7 you can look to get your business upgraded to Windows 10 to limit your chances of being attacked by hackers.
If you want to find out more about any of the above tips, our Cloud services such as Microsoft Azure or how to protect your business from online hacking with our Tiered Security Support Packages, please get in touch with our Managed Services team today.
Want to receive similar tips to the above straight into your inbox? Then why not sign up to our mailing list today.
9 Essential Guidelines: Protecting Your Business from Hackers
by | Updated December 2, 2021 | Business Tips | 4 min read
There is a common wives-tale that for every cockroach that you see in your home. There are ten more that you don’t see.
You can apply this idea for the hackers of the world. The media will typically cover the hacks that affect large name brands such as Target or Amazon. There are countless other smaller businesses that are affected every year that don’t reach the headlines.
Hackers and cyber criminals are out there preying on businesses with vulnerabilities in their security practices. Many small businesses take very little effort in protecting themselves from hackers because they believe that they only target the big-name brands.
This belief couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, most hackers only target small businesses for this very reason! With just a few simple steps, you can amplify your business’ security measures and keep your cyber security threats to a minimum.
9 Guidelines to Follow to Protect Your Business from Hackers
Protecting your business from cyber threats is important to keep your business running smoothly while also maintaining the trust of your customer base.
Here are the 9 essential steps to take in protecting your business from hackers:
- Always keep your security patches and anti-virus software updated. The latest updates will help protect your business from the most relevant viruses and malware.
- Allow employee access to information on a necessity basis. Access to customer data or other Personally Identifiable Information [PII] opens up your business to the risk of data breaches.
- Avoid paper trails, which opens up the doors to visual hacking and dumpster divers. Make sure to properly destroy your documents once they are no longer needed.
- Be aware of cyber fraud methodology in order to protect yourself from them. Becoming more educated in the process of cyber fraud will better prepare you for the possible attacks.
- Understand which types of information are most sought after by hackers and need to be protected. Only store your client’s PII that is absolutely necessary in the company database.
- If and when using an electronic document management system such as a cloud storage service, make sure that they are secure and employ an adequate encryption method.
- Define a company-wide security policy for protecting confidential information and document the security protocols. The employees will have a clear understanding from day one.
- Have a plan to respond to a security breach for the company. Even practice it annually to make sure that all the steps are clear and still relevant.
Use a record management system that emphasizes security. By storing your documents off-site, you save office space and also keep your records thoroughly protected.
Remember, these are rules of thumb that should be put into place when it is relevant to your business. These are practices that will help most businesses. They do not guarantee a business hacker will not be able to penetrate your systems.
Keeping Your Physical and Digital Records Secure
Secure record storage services are available to increase your company’s security measures with electronic document management systems, record scanning, physical document storage, and cloud storage options.
Get Free Quotes on Record Management Systems Today!
When it comes to your business’ security, there should be no shortcuts in the way your documents and information are handled. With the sophisticated methods that hackers are using to hack even the smallest businesses, it is necessary to take all the precautions in keeping your company and your customer’s private information safe.
Record Nations works with reliable and experienced professionals throughout the country to bring you record scanning and storage, cloud storage, and document management systems. Our local contractors have the expertise to keep your information safe while still allowing you convenient access to all your files.
To get free quotes from multiple providers in your area, give us a call at [866] 385-3706 or use the form on the right. Within minutes, you will receive calls from multiple service providers who can handle your specified needs at competitive prices.