Given all the news regarding cyberattacks, it’s not hard to get businesses thinking about improving their cybersecurity. But, when those same businesses want to move beyond just thinking about improvement and act to really mature their security, they may feel like they are on their own. After all, the typical small business doesn’t usually have an IT staff, and probably doesn’t know where to begin this journey. Not to worry, we’re here to help. 

These are the first 5 things we recommend a small business (really any business) do as they work to improve their cybersecurity posture.

ONE

The very first thing we recommend is to have a plan.  If you are not sure how to develop a plan, here is an overview of the different areas you’ll want to review as you begin the process of improving your cybersecurity: https://www.realtime-it.com/blog/solid-cybersecurity-plan.

TWO

You must perform risk and vulnerability assessments for your business. You want to understand (and document) how you use technology in your business and the technical risks you face so you can prioritize your cybersecurity improvement efforts.  It is not possible to fix everything at once, and your risk assessment will help you identify what might be addressed easily and what is critical to address immediately.

 For the rest of Part 1, we’ll skip ahead a bit in the process to shore up areas every business needs to address if they haven’t already.

 THREE

Backups – air-gapped, tested, secured. Simply put, you want to regularly backup all your important data, and have a copy of that backup outside of the building and inaccessible from your local computers. This way, if something bad happens, the backup isn’t affected along with everything else.  Don’t forget, you also want to periodically test your backups to make sure the process is working, and the data is up-to-date and usable.

FOUR

Firewall – managed, NextGen security. Your firewall, with the proper security services in force, is one of your primary means of cyber defense. Firewalls have been considered a security necessity for about twenty years now– and no, you can’t get a proper business-grade firewall off the shelf at your local big-box electronics store.

FIVE

Security Awareness Training – ongoing and often. If your staff is using computers and the internet, they need to be aware of the threats, to know what to watch for, and to understand how to report anything out of the ordinary. – We have a great blog on Security Awareness Training here with a lot of great links.

Finally, even though we said we’d only discuss the first five steps to consider in addressing stronger cybersecurity, we really want to make sure you understand how important it is for you to obtain adequate cyber insurance appropriate to your business type and cyber risks. Talk to your insurance agent and ask for qualified resources and options to help you find the best policy to meet your needs.