How to Keep Your Company Data Safe from Hackers

Do you know that most internationally reputed and large-scale companies such as Walmart and Amazon spend millions of dollars on cybersecurity every year? Some of the most popular companies usually have a dedicated team of staff members to ensure higher website security.

These staff members are always looking for cyber-attacks and data breaches that can compromise company data security. Whenever such a threat is identified, they immediately address the issue for reducing risks. 

The statements mentioned above clearly indicate that cybersecurity is critical for all businesses, irrespective of their sizes. That said, small-scale businesses are at higher risk when compared to large companies. This is because small-scale businesses lack the funds to implement advanced security measures. 

That said, you will be easily able to keep the data of your business safe from cyber attackers and hackers by following the below mentioned security measures. 

Educate Your Colleagues and Staff 

You can start by educating your staff and colleagues on the importance of cybersecurity for businesses. Businesses must realize that the best line of defense against cyberattacks is not an external cybersecurity team or a firewall but your staff.  

Careless actions or accidental mistakes from the side of employees have resulted in effective cyberattacks. For instance, phishing is one of the most common types of cyber-attack, which has enabled hackers to get the login credentials of several employees. 

Such incidents happen because businesses fail to educate their employees regarding security measures and practices. Providing necessary training to colleagues and staff on common cybercrime and hacking techniques can prevent your business from such attacks. 

Use Stronger Passwords

Most individuals would probably be aware that using strong passwords and changing them regularly makes it hard for hackers to gain unauthorized access to your systems. It is always best not to share your password with anyone else who does not need to know it. 

When selecting a password, always opt for something cryptic, which is hard to guess for hackers and others. It would help if you also encouraged your employees to use passwords that contain symbols, numbers, lower case letters, and uppercase letters. 

Apart from that, it would help if you also asked them to use passwords with a minimum of seven characters. Another important thing to note when creating passwords is to avoid using part of your ID or name.

Encrypt 

There is no denying that businesses will struggle to bounce back if hackers manage to steal their customer data. This can be a nightmare for most customers because they might not be able to earn customers’ trust after such an incident. 

It might not always be possible to keep sophisticated cybercriminals or hackers from accessing your system. That said, you will prevent them from gaining access to key business data by encrypting it. Encryption will protect the information stored on the cloud and keep the internal emails confidential and private. 

Never Forget HR Data

Several businesses do an excellent job of securing sensitive customer information with the help of a custom-made database and secure computer network. However, in some cases, they forget to store HR and internal business-related data. 

If you follow such a practice, it is best to avoid it because this may leave your HR and internal-business-related data an easy target for hackers. Businesses that want to ensure maximum security will need to consider using HR databases, which are security conscious. 

Buy And Install SSL Certificates 

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates have become an essential requirement for business websites to ensure safety and security. So, if your business website has not yet installed an SSL certificate, you should install it as early as possible. It secures the in-transit communication between the web browser and the client-server. 

To ascertain the type of SSL certificates, you can choose single domain, multi-domain SSL, cheap wildcard SSL, EV SSL, etc. You can find SSL certificates from reliable certificate authorities and resellers. There is a common misconception among businesses that SSL certificates are necessary only for websites that sell products and services to customers.

However, that’s not the case, as SSL certificates are an excellent security measure to help websites prevent cyberattacks. Apart from that, websites that use SSL certificates are more likely to secure higher ranks on Google and other search engines. 

Be Sure to Set Up Automatic Software Updates 

Most businesses often fail to realize that cybercriminals and hackers love to scan through websites and networks to find ones that are using outdated or older versions. It will be easy for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities if they can find any such sites or networks. 

The good news is that you will avoid such issues by regularly updating the operating systems, software applications, and other device security settings to the latest available version. It would help if you also considered setting any improvements or patches for automatically updating software systems for further safeguarding your business against potential threats. 

Back-Up 

It might come as a huge surprise to several readers when they hear that several businesses are still not backing up their hard drives. If you are one among them, then we highly recommend you start backing up the business hard drive as soon as possible. 

Backing up important business information is critical. If hackers get into the system and trash it, then you will be able to easily rebuild without losing any data since you have already backed it up. 

Backup utilities, which are built into Windows and macOS, are an excellent place to get started. Businesses should also consider investing in an external backup hard drive, which will offer additional storage space.

Final Thoughts 

It doesn’t matter whether you are running a huge corporation or a small company. Data thefts and other cyberattacks will surely result in massive disruptions. Your business may suffer severe losses if such an incident happens. Fortunately, you will be able to prevent such incidents by implementing proper security measures and practices in place.