Cybersecurity for Small Business: Top 8 Steps to Protect Your Business
Does this story sound familiar?
“Like so many businesses our size, we grew from humble beginnings to a multi-million-dollar revenue entity over the years. Adding staff, both in house and remote, means increased need for online collaboration, intensive communication with clients and vendors, and the inevitable storage and transmission of sensitive data. Candidly, our server security, data repositories, and email security were at risk. Without technology experts in house - we didn’t know what we didn’t know. A precarious and potentially dangerous position to be in.” – CEO, Construction Waterproofing Organization
This is from one of our customers, describing their IT environment prior to working with Endpoint. Keeping up with cybersecurity threats and maintaining a proactive approach is difficult at best – that is why so many organizations depend on Endpoint for fully managed IT, cybersecurity, and support - so they can stay secure while focusing on their core business.
And while every company is different, there are some key, critical steps we recommend small businesses take to improve their cybersecurity posture. In this blog, we outline our “Top 8.”
Top 8 Steps to Protect Your Business:
1.) Prioritize Security Leadership
2.) Deploy Security Training
3.) Utilize Cloud Services
4.) Enact Endpoint Monitoring
5.) Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
6.) Regularly Back-Up Data
7.) Create an Incident Response Plan
8.) Stay Current with Patch Management
Prioritize Security Leadership
Security leadership ensures that cybersecurity is not an afterthought but an integral part of a small business’s strategy and operations. It is about proactive planning, risk management, and fostering a security-conscious culture. Bottom line – you need someone on your team who can help navigate ongoing changes – regulatory, compliance, requirements for cybersecurity insurance and more. You need someone who can answer the questions – “Is this important? What do we need to do to stay compliant?” Whether that is a person on your team, or an IT partner who is managing your IT, having proactive leadership on this topic is critical to staying ahead of the changing landscape.
Deploy Security Training
Regular cybersecurity awareness training and education is essential for safeguarding your organization. When employees have awareness around the latest threats and potential entry points (i.e., texting, or phishing emails), you build a more vigilant culture that is better prepared to identify a potential threat. This should be more than just once a year – ongoing training and awareness is key for keeping cybersecurity top of mind.
Utilize Cloud Services
When properly configured, leveraging cloud platforms can not only improve cybersecurity posture, but can also accelerate scalability – and that is essential for small business that are continuing to grow and add teammates, vendors, and processes. Using a cloud platform is a very secure method for storing your data, with robust encryption, access controls and continuous monitoring to safeguard sensitive information. Solutions like Microsoft 365 (for email, Teams, devices and more) are built on key cybersecurity pillars including identity and access management, threat protection, information protection and security management. This helps to keep organizations safe across many tools and applications.
Enable Endpoint Monitoring
Endpoints (computers, servers, devices) are the gateways through which information flows, but they are also where potential threats can enter. Because endpoints are where users interact with the network, it is a critical touchpoint for security. Endpoint monitoring ensures that these touchpoints are securely monitored – it is your first line of defense from a cybersecurity perspective. Proactively monitoring endpoints helps identify unusual activities, such as unauthorized access or malware infections. Endpoint detection and response solutions focus on real-time threat detection, analysis, and response, providing detailed insights and enabling swift action against suspicious activities. Endpoint monitoring has evolved beyond basic antivirus software. It now addresses the complexity of cyber threats and the rise of remote work and cloud services.
Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Implementing MFA adds an extra (and needed) layer of security across your organization. Investing in MFA is a cost-effective way to mitigate risks because it helps prevent breaches – saving businesses from financial losses, legal penalties, and reputational damage. While it may seem cumbersome to take an additional step to sign-in, MFA is a security super star - and it is worth the extra 10 seconds to validate access to your systems and tools with a second form of authentication. Even if a hacker obtains a user’s password, they will still need a second factor (such as a text message code or biometric scan) to gain access. Phishing attacks often trick users into revealing their passwords - MFA makes it harder for attackers because they would need both the password and the second factor. This significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches.
Regularly Back Up Data
Do you know all the places your data lives – and when it was last backed up? Regularly backing up data is your security safety net. Data loss can occur due to various reasons, including hardware failures, software glitches, natural disasters, or cyber-attacks. When you regularly back up your data, you are creating an additional layer of protection against these unforeseen events. And if your business faces a ransomware attack or hardware failure, recent backups allow you to swiftly restore data and resume operations. In addition, regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) mandate business to protect customers information and regular data backups play a crucial role in fulfilling those requirements. This is inclusive of scheduled backups and testing the restoration process to demonstrate compliance and prevent penalties. Utilizing modern tools that do this automatically is key to keeping that safety net strong. In addition, cloud-based tools and storage help protect your data from physical disasters as well.
Create an Incident Response Plan
Creating and practicing an incident response plan – defining roles, communication channels and actions should there be a breach – is a critical component to proactive cybersecurity. It is truly about business continuity. It ensures that a business can recover quickly even if a security incident occurs. Incidents like data breaches, malware infections, or system compromises can have severe consequences, and a response plan helps limit the impact by identifying critical assets, isolating affected systems, and restoring services efficiently. Another important factor about an incident response plan; for many industries, it is required for legal and compliance purposes to demonstrate you have a thorough and comprehensive plan to respond to potential incidents. A well-structured plan ensures that evidence related to the incident is properly collected and preserved, which is crucial for investigations, legal proceedings, and potential law enforcement involvement. Finally, we cannot forget about the role teams play in a response plan. That is where ongoing simulated incident training can really help your organization better prepare should an incident occur.
Stay Current with Patch Management
Patch management is a very important component to a company’s cybersecurity posture – for many reasons. Patch management enhances security – regularly applying patches helps address known vulnerabilities in software and systems and reduces the risk of unauthorized access, data breaches and other cyber threats. Hackers often exploit outdated software vulnerabilities and patch management ensures those vulnerabilities are patched – minimizing risk of exploitation. It is also critical for compliance requirements. Many industries have specific requirements for organizations to maintain up-to-date software and security measures. Patch management helps businesses meet those requirements and avoid potential penalties or legal issues. Perhaps equally important though is the customer trust patch management supports. Demonstrating commitment to security through effective patch management enhances a business’s reputation. It builds trust with customers, showing that the organization takes data protection seriously and is proactive in safeguarding sensitive information. And finally, in addition to addressing security issues, patch management improves the stability and performance of software and systems.
Remember, cybersecurity is an ongoing journey. And it should be a proactive one. By implementing these steps or working with a partner like Endpoint to implement and proactively maintain these steps for you, you will strengthen your small business’s defenses and build resilience against cyber threats.