- June 17, 2021
- Business, Digital Security, Entrepreneurship, Startups, Technology
Medium and small businesses can be devastated when they become the target of digital security threats by scammers and hackers online.
A recent study in 2020 found that the damages caused to medium and small businesses by digital security attacks were over 2 million dollars last year.
The study also found through its research that the severity of digital security threats is on the rise.
In this article, we will take a look at ways that women entrepreneurs can protect their businesses from digital security threats..
As you may already know, the first step you should take to prevent a security threat to your business is by installing an anti-virus to all the systems within your domain.
You should also install firewalls for your business and then you’re safe, right?
Not really! Women entrepreneurs have to take more steps in order to protect their businesses from cyber-attacks and nefarious characters online.
In today’s digital world it’s better to stay safe than to be sorry. Let’s take a look at how you can cyber-attack proof your business.
Identify the vulnerabilities beforehand
Being blind-sighted by the vulnerabilities that affect your business can get your enterprise into a lot of trouble.
The first step to identifying where your business is vulnerable online is by reviewing your business activities and understanding the way your business stores and collects data.
Data theft and blackmail is a common way that miscreants attack medium and small businesses and extort money from them.
Just imagine how devastating it would be if someone got hold of your data online and encrypted it, to demand a ransom for your data.
This is why it is so important to know the vulnerabilities that your business has online.
By doing a review of how your business collects, processes, and stores data you can better understand the vulnerabilities your business faces.
Make your passwords bulletproof
This goes without saying that your passwords should be a piece of personal information that must be secure at all times.
When creating your passwords leave no loose ends untied. Here are some tips for securing the passwords that you use for your accounts.
- Use a password manager to store and generate passwords. A password manager can be used to store your passwords for all your online accounts.
- Change your password for every account. This means that you should not use the same password for all your accounts, instead have different ones for each of your accounts.
- Do not reuse your old passwords. Create a new password every time you receive a prompt from your password manager.
- Use multi-factor authentication codes such as your mobile number or different mail ids to secure your account.
- Never store your passwords in the physical form. You may never know who might get their hands on it.
Brush up on your online hygiene
As a professional, you must be using a number of tools, accounts, newsletters, and more to support your business.
Having so much online property can sometimes make your inbox look trashy and full of junk mail.
It’s always suggested that you maintain the hygiene of your inbox so that you do not become a victim of phishing sites or third-party sites that create a whirlpool of unwanted mails in your inbox.
Make an inventory of all the accounts that you need for your business. Unsubscribe from emails that are furtive in your inbox.
- Cross out all the service emails that you receive that are no longer relevant to your business.
- After you are done with the above two steps make an inventory of the accounts you need to run your business.
- Using a password manager, create and store unique passwords for your accounts. Now that the clutter is gone, it will be easier to secure your inbox.
Be vary of Public networks
Running your business may mean that you have taken on the life of a digital nomad, working remotely from different locations on the map. When working on the go we often sign in to internet networks that are public.
The unfortunate catch is that these networks may not be secure. For this reason, you have to be careful, as anyone who is on that network may be spying on your data and accounts.
The solution to this is as follows:
- Avoid using public networks that you are unfamiliar with to sign in to your accounts.
- Use a strong VPN so that your IP address is protected and safe from scammers. VPN networks are available for almost all kinds of operating systems.
- While travelling upload your data to a cloud so that even if you lose your device your data is still safe and accessible by you.
It is important to understand that marketing generally isn’t something that can be done “on the fly”.
Promote cybersecurity within your organization
Many times, we get so carried away with the business that we forget to promote cyber security within our organizations.
That’s why its important to promote cybersecurity as the weakest link within your organization sets the precedent for the strength of your cybersecurity.
Here’s how you can promote cybersecurity within your business:
- Ensure that everyone within your organization is making use of a password manager and VPN.
- Limit access to project management and collaboration platforms to those who are only the highest echelons of your organization.
- Promote cybersecurity within your organization. Talk about it with your co-workers.
- Inform employees not to use the same password for different accounts.
Conclusion
It only takes an aware mind and a few hours of data management to ensure that your business is not a soft target for cybersecurity threats.
Cybersecurity is more than not clicking on suspicious links, it also includes securing your accounts and depending on the cloud to store and share your data. If you enjoyed this article on cybersecurity, get in touch!
Not sure where to start?
We would like to introduce ourselves as Lead Digital. We offer end-to-end digital services that will blow your customer’s minds, generate hot leads and help your business scale with more ROI than before.
We hope you enjoyed reading this blog. Visit our website for more inside information on lead generation, digital marketing, and other related topics.
Let’s Get In Touch!
We would love to hear from you about your firm. Drop us a line, or give us a heads up if you’re interested in visiting us.
