As a twenty first century business entity, your assets won’t simply be the premises you work from and tangible equipment that you lease or own. Nowadays, your assets will be cloud based, online, and more vulnerable to a different sort of criminal. Cyber crime is becoming a threat to ventures, both large and small, meaning that personal data, sensitive information, and financial data can be at risk of penetration.

As a business owner, you need to ensure that you protect these assets as best you can. A simple firewall won’t do. Take a look at these simple ways you can secure your business assets.

Training

If you have a staff team keeping your business profitable, you need to train them up in respect of cyber threats. All too often, startups suffer a hack because a human being has opened a dodgy email attachment or link. To minimize the chances of this happening, you need to deliver refresher training annually, detailing the sorts of cyber threats and vulnerabilities that could be ready to attack your data. Ensure that your staff understand the importance of random twelve character alphanumeric secure passwords, encryption, and being responsible online. You could choose to deliver this simple training in house or outsource this to a specialist training company. At the end of this, you can put the onus on your employees to take responsibility for their own online and office conduct by signing up to a cybersecurity policy.

Off-Site

As we embrace at-home working a little more because of the coronavirus pandemic, more and more workers are accessing company files from the comfort of their own home. With a secure connection that is password protected, this shouldn’t be an issue. However, when your staff members choose to work from their favorite coffee shop on an open network, data can be put more at risk. Ensure that you make files accessible only for those people who need to know. Also, make it a policy that networks should not be accessed from unsecured networks or WiFi connections.

Cloud

If you utilize the cloud, ensure that you choose a server that is secure and has a sound reputation for encryption. With cyber attacks, it can be a challenge to be wholly impermeable. No business is immune. Just a couple of years ago, the NHS in the UK was subject to a massive malware attack even though they have super secure and encrypted networks. Human error was at fault and millions of patient records were inaccessible for weeks. This led to a disruption and delay in care. To ensure that you can keep trading if you are at the mercy of ransomware, backup your data daily. If in doubt, outsource your IT security requirement to an external specialist who will be on hand for support twenty four seven.

It can be challenging to keep your business assets secure in the twenty first century. Follow this guide and your business will be as protected as possible from all sorts of cyber threats.