Written by: Harmony Wagner, CFP® and Samantha Masey

It’s not just billion-dollar corporations that are at risk for cybercrime. Businesses of all sizes and industries are at risk, and once a breach occurs, it can be detrimental, particularly to small businesses. Once a breach occurs, the costs incurred by the affected business may include financial compensation to affected clients, operational downtime, and perhaps most importantly, the loss of trust that occurs when a business must acknowledge that they have been exposed to a data breach. However, there are some proactive steps you can take as a business owner to protect your sensitive information and to reduce the likelihood of a breach occurring.

In this article, we will discuss three ways to protect your business from cybercrime:

1. Remote Working Tips
2. Vetting Partners
3. Workforce Education

 

1. Remote Work

Having the proper security measures in place to secure hardware is an important way to protect your business. Now that remote work is a part of everyday life for many people, there are even more challenges to consider. It is important to make sure that all remote employees are taking the proper precautions when they are not in the office. These include:

• Using VPNs to safeguard information that is accessed over a home or public network that may not have the same protections as you do in the office
• Ensuring devices that contain sensitive information are stored securely when not in use
• Stringent log in procedures such as the use of two-factor authentication (2FA)

 

2. Vetting Partners

When it comes to your business partners, it is important to remember that your clients have entrusted you to protect their information and as a result your partnerships and vendors.

Some ways to appropriately vet your partners are:

• Perform regular risk assessments
  • Does the partner have access to your organization’s sensitive data?
  • If yes, does their service require access to it?
  • How are they protecting that data?
• Review partner cyberattack protocols and employee training

In today’s world, it is becoming more of a standard to include compliance standards and security requirements in partnership agreements. If your potential partner or vendor does not comply with these standards, it should make you think twice before moving forward with an agreement.

 

3. Workforce Education

Perhaps the crux of protecting data from cybercrime is ensuring that you and your employees are staying up to date with cyber threat training. Up to 95% of cybersecurity breaches are caused by human error, so it is crucial to make sure that each team member is educated on best cyber safety practices and committed to being vigilant and protecting all sensitive data. It is prudent to implement an ongoing training program that requires employees to complete certain education periodically, which will keep your employees aware of the most common scams.

The threat of cybercrime is one of the biggest business risks faced by most companies in the modern age. As the old adage goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” A study from Pensar revealed that implementing a cybersecurity training program in your business often results in up to a 37-fold return on investment. 

Taking these proactive steps in your business will potentially save you precious resources and help you maintain the trust that you have developed with those that you serve.

 

Watch our latest webinar to learn more about cybersecurity best practices you can implement to protect your wealth and information. As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.