Small businesses are increasingly adopting digital transformation for the many benefits it offers. Increased sales, improved profits, smoother processes and greater business agility are some of the factors driving digital adoption. However, with increased adoption, comes the challenges of data safety; thus making cybersecurity for small businesses a big issue.
With over 700,000 attackes in 2020, causing about USD2.8 billion in estimated damages; it has been reported that 43% of cyber attacks are targeted at small businesses.
While large firms are able to engage cyberscurity professionals to manage their cyberspace, small firms are limited in capacity. Fortunately, there are simple steps that a small business owner can take to protect his small business data from cybercriminals.
This blog posts blog post highlights a few of these steps. Before we get into it, let’s first understand what cybersecurity actually means.
What Is Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a form of security relating to the cyber space. It encompasses the security of computer systems, networks, devices, and the data contained therein. It deal with measures aimed at detecting and/or preventing unauthorized access to digital assets; such as attacks, damage, or any other form of malicious exploitation of resources in cyberspace.
There are many aspects to cybersecurity for small businesses, and here are some of them:
Network Security
Network security refers to measures that are aimed at securing computer networks and their infrastructure. This will include: firewalls, routers, switches, and wireless networks. The goal of network security is to prevent unauthorized access and protect it against network-based attacks.
Information Security
Information security refers to measures aimed at protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and information assets. Such measures include data encryption, access controls, data classification, and secure data storage.
Application Security
Application security is about securing software applications and systems against vulnerabilities and ensuring that they are resistant to attacks. Such security measures as It secure coding practices, regular software updates, and penetration testing are within the realm of application security.
Endpoint Security
Endpoint security relates to measures geared towards securing individual devices, such as computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets, to prevent unauthorized access and protect them against malware and other threats.
Cloud Security
Cloud security refers to measures that are designe to protect data stored in the cloud against malicious attack and unauthorized access. Businesses and other institutions are fast embracing cloud computing with an enormous amount of data stored in the cloud. As a result cloud security is increasingly becoming critical.
Incident Response
Incidence response emcompances plansand procedures that are put in place to detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity incidents. It involves identifying and mitigating the impact of security breaches, as well as learning from them to prevent future incidents.
Cybersecurity threats
Like large firms, small businesses face a range of cybersecurity threats that can have significant implications for their operations and data security. Here are some common cybersecurity threats that small businesses often encounter:
Phishing Attacks
This occurs when cybercriminals send fraudulent emails, messages, or websites that appear legitimate to trick employees into revealing sensitive information like login credentials or financial data. Small businesses are often targeted due to limited awareness and training among employees.
Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that encrypts a business’s data, making it inaccessible until a ransom is paid. Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to ransomware attacks due to inadequate cybersecurity measures and the potential for significant financial losses.
Insider Threats
These are malicious actions by entities who have access to an organization’s sensitive system and/or data. These entities can be employees of the organizations, officers or contractors and sometimes the compromises may not be intended.
And at some other times, these threats may occur due to small businesses lack of capacity to implement strict access controls and monitoring systems, making them susceptible to internal threats.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks
DDoS attacks involve overwhelming a business’s network or website with a flood of traffic, rendering it inaccessible to users. Small businesses may lack the necessary resources or infrastructure to defend a DDoS attacks effectively, making them attractive targets.
Social Engineering
This type threat occurs when individuals are manipulated or tricked into divulging sensitive information or performing actions that compromise security. This can include tactics such as impersonating authority figures, exploiting trust, or conducting pretexting over the phone.
Small businesses may lack the awareness or training to identify and prevent social engineering attacks effectively.
Malware Infections
Malware are malicious software designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to data or computer systems. Through working with unpatched files, downloading untested programs, or browsing compromised website, small businesses are exposed and may fall victim of malware infections.
Supply Chain Attacks
Small businesses often rely on third-party vendors and suppliers for various services and products. Cybercriminals may target these vendors to gain access to the small business’s network, compromising data security and potentially spreading malware or conducting other malicious activities.
Data Breaches
A data breach occurs when an unauthorized person gains access to sensitive organization’s sensitive information. Such information may relate to a company finances, customer details, employee information, etc. Small businesses may store valuable personal data without implementing adequate security measures, making them attractive targets for cybercriminals.
It is important for small businesses to be aware of these threats and take proactive measures to implement robust cybersecurity practices to protect their sensitive data and operations.
Cybersecurity solutions for Small Businesses
As I have identified earlier, both large and small businesses face cybersecurity challenges. However cyberscurity for small businesses is unique. This is due to the fact that limited resources and lack of expertise often hinder their capacity to adequately address cybersecurity issues. As a result, small businesses are easy targets for for cybercriminals.
However, with the right cybersecurity program in place, small businesses can significantly enhance their security posture and protect their sensitive data. Here, I highlight some cost-effective and practical measures small business owners can put in place go protect their digital assets.
#1. Conduct a Risk Assessment
The first step to protecting your business from cyberpredators is to assess and understand the specific kind of risk that your business is exposed to. Identify the critical assets, such as customer data, financial information, and intellectual property, and evaluate the potential impact of a security breach. This assessment will help you prioritize security measures and allocate resources effectively.
#2. Establish Strong Password Policies
Passwords are simple but very effective measures that enhance cybersecurity generally. Make using strong passwords in your business network a policy. Encourage your staff members to create strong, unique and complex passwords and if possible, add a two fact authentication.
Educate them about the risks of using weak passwords and provide tools or resources to generate and manage strong passwords securely.
#3. Educate Employees on Cybersecurity Best Practices
One of the major causes of data breaches is human error. It’s therefore critical that you educate your employees on basic cybersecutiry best practices so they understand common threats and how to prevent them.
For example, your employees should be able to know a phyishing email when they see one. They should be able to identify suspicious links and avoid clicking them. By creating a culture of cybersecurity awareness, you can significantly reduce the risk of successful attacks.
#4. Implement Reliable Endpoint Protection
The entry points for cyber attacks are often the Endpoint devices. These include: laptops, desktops, and mobile devices. Therefore, it is important to implement reliable endpoint protection solutions, such as antivirus software and endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools.
These solutions can detect and mitigate malware, ransomware, and other malicious activities, safeguarding your endpoints from potential attacks.
#5. Secure Network Infrastructure
As a small business owner, your focus should be to prevent unauthorized access to your network infrastructure in order to avoid data breaches.
This can be achieved by setting up firewall and enabling secure Wi-Fi protocols with strong encryption. from external networks, consider implementing Virtual Private Network (VPN) for remote access.
#6. Regularly Back up Data
To avoid data loss, regularly back up your data and implement a recovery strategy in the case that a disaster occur. Data revovery and business continuity strategy are important framework for any business that ensures that business is not disrupted as a result of loss of data.
These days cloud computing is providing cost-effective solutions that small businesses can leverage on to securely back up data, recover quickly from breaches and ensure business continuity. Thus, considering the use of cloud-based backup solutions for added redundancy and offsite storage is an investment worthy of making for small businesses.
Before choosing any back-up regime, test the backup process to ensure data integrity and to verify its recoverability.
#7. Monitor and Respond to Security Incidents
Incident response programmes are important even for small businesses. Such programmes involves establishing protocols for reporting security incidents. Apart from reporting, a good incident protocols will include assignment of roles, and a clear definition of steps to responses.
Regularly review and update the incident response plan to adapt to new threats and technologies. If your business lacks the internal capacity to estabish and implement incident response protocols; subscribe to external resources, such as managed security service providers (MSSPs).
#8. Mobile Device Security Plan
A crtical component of cybersecurity for small busineses should include a plan for mobile devices. And this is understandable given the growing influence of mobile devices in communication, social and business interactions.
This also implies that security threats from mobile devices is on the high. Therefore, a mobile security plan is critical component in your a overall security measures. The plan should include reporting precedure for lost mobile phones and similar devices, demolization of such devices and password protection policies, etc.
Final Words
Here you have it! Cybersecurity for small businesses. Implementation of these tips is important for data proctection, business continuity and disaster recovery.
Buchi creates content and leads the Team at Kobotalk Management Services; a business development and investment consultancy firm. He provides strategic advisory to help SME's, small business owners and HNI's grow profitable business and make informed investing decisions.
Cybersecurity is important to all walks of life, and taking precautions in advance can reduce security issues.