Overview
According to Tripwire Integrity Management, a staggering 73% of small business owners and leaders reported experiencing data breaches or cyber attacks in the past year, marking a significant surge in security incidents. This underscores the growing appeal of small businesses as prime targets for cyber criminals.
No business is too small to get hacked…AND no budget is too small to start taking steps toward securing and protecting your business.
Below are some helpful questions to help you address your security and data privacy practices as a business owner.
Security Management Questions
- What existing vulnerabilities within your network (internal and external) can create potential risks for your company data?
- Knowing the limits of exposure on the networks you use to share data can help you identify and understand what security risks are critical to your business operations and its systems.
- What kind of business security policies and practices are YOU… and your staff expected to uphold?
- Keeping information secure and protected involves participation from ALL members of the organization–that includes the business owner/CEO. Train or increase the knowledge of your teams about keeping critical data secure and sharing your company’s information with each other and with external parties
- How effective are your current security measures and tools used to protect your systems and devices?
- At the very least, you should have a set of effective authentication and authorization policies for all devices that are used to share and store business information. It would also be wise to ensure that all endpoints are armored with antivirus, anti-spam, and secure network communication (such as VPN).
Conclusion
Cyber attacks, along with the methods used to perform them, are both increasing and evolving at an alarming rate each day. Those who choose to wait until their data is compromised will experience far more financial and reputation damage than those who work to proactively stay ahead of potential threats that can harm their business.
I hope this information provides insight as you strive to keep your company protected as you continue to navigating our way through the digital age.