Small and medium sized businesses must be on the front foot in preparing and defending themselves from cyber crime, but often it can seem hard to know where to start. Cyber Aware has a number of important habits you can all adopt to create a strong culture of cyber security in your business and make yourselves less vulnerable to potential cyber threats. It starts with opening the conversation with your employee mail accounts – the gateway to information
Many businesses still use email as a primary form of communication, with clients, suppliers and between employees. An employee’s email account may contain financial details, supplier and customer addresses or even confidential internal emails – all of which would be gold dust to a hacker. Cyber Aware’s recent research shows 27% of respondents from all age groups reuse their email password across multiple accounts. This means if a hacker gains access to one account, they may be able to gain access to a number of accounts holding important information. Employers should encourage all staff to create strong and separate passwords for their email account.
Employees at small businesses may receive hundreds of emails each day. With this volume of messages it can become difficult to identify a potentially suspicious email or attachment entering your inbox. SMEs should remind employees that even if a suspicious email or attachment comes from a company or contact they know, they should check the message is genuine by contacting them through other means before replying or opening attachments. An email address can be faked and attachments may contain viruses or malware install the latest software and app updates
Since the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation, otherwise known as GDPR, all businesses now have a legal responsibility to protect consumer data they are storing. An easy way to protect this data is by installing the latest software and app updates on all devices. Updates bring new features and most importantly fix weaknesses in the existing software that are exploited by hackers. Employees can choose to install updates overnight when they leave the workplace if their devices are plugged in.
Staying secure online might feel like a daunting business challenge, but it doesn’t need to be. By following the above steps, you can help employees foster a culture in the workplace that prioritises cyber security and protects your business in the long run.
For more cyber security guidance and detailed versions of the tips above, download the Small Business Guide on the National Cyber Security Centre to help guard you against the most common cyber threats for businesses.