How small and medium-sized businesses can prevent potential cyber threats

Cybersecurity is a massive issue for small and medium-sized businesses, and a lack of knowledge worsens its process. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, 60% of SMBs that experience a severe cyber-attack go out of business within six months. However, you as an owner must protect your data and business from external and internal CYBER THREATS. Threats can come from various sources such as hackers, employees, and customers, making them hard to manage.

Hence, to prevent these cyber threats, businesses need to know cybersecurity basics and use some simple tips. Remember that being small does not make you less attractive to cybercriminals. If you do not take preventive measures to protect your organization, you put yourself on a silver plate for hackers.

Guide to preventing cyber security threats in SMBs

Hire qualified IT security staff

Technology changes, the techniques of cybercriminals change, and the way to protect companies must also do it. Simple antivirus and firewalls went down in history, appearing new ways of cybersecurity management. Therefore, organizations need to hire Information Technology engineers or technicals capable of managing advanced cybersecurity tools. Those experts also must know about the network monitoring process to detect in real-time any suspicious activity. Large companies generally have their responsible IT team for handling all cybersecurity concerns and advanced tools like SIEMs.

Nevertheless, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) do not face the same fate and become target attacks. Today, a good solution is to hire cyber-security services that include the whole package (security, highly qualified personnel, and profitability).

Implement advanced technologies

Companies should ensure they use the most sophisticated software and hardware to reduce the risk of any outside threats. In this age, the best tools to prevent cyber threats are SIEMs that include cyber threats intelligence technology, vulnerabilities assessment, incident response, Unified Threat Management, etc. SIEM tools comply with many compliance requirements that enrich an incident response plan, supporting to detection and eradication of threats. 

Configure cybersecurity policies and protocols

Cybersecurity protocols are designed to ensure the data's security and integrity as they travel through the network. Organizations must configure them to prevent unauthorized external persons from accessing, manipulating, or destroying the information. Also, they must use them to restrict employee access to business networks, data servers, and cloud storage systems. If you handle the network protocols (TCP / IP) and authentication protocols, together with the company's security policies, you will be helping minimize the risk of threats.

In addition, it is recommended to encrypt sensitive files, have a backup ready for all essential data, use VPN, use strong passwords and renew them periodically. However, if your organization cannot have a SIEM tool, antivirus and antimalware software installation are always options.

Of course, remember to update each of the applications and software you use.

Train employees

Cyber threats are more sophisticated and complex than ever before. Employees need a constant training process to identify when they are being threatened by Phishing, Ransomware, DDoS, or other cyber-attacks. Businesses need to implement a strong cybersecurity culture that starts with the CEO and filters down through the organization. Free cybersecurity training is crucial to avoid that employees being ignorantly spreading malicious software. Also, it helps to security team be updated with the latest attacks, hacking techniques, and procedures to identify and remove them.

Follow up

Consistently IT managers must implement controls to check that employees are following computer security policies. The role varies depending on the company-sized; however, the control must never be lacking. When you monitor the behavior of employees, their access, and network configurations, the organization is less exposed to external or internal cyber threats.

Conclusions

Cyber threats prevention is a complex issue for those small and medium-sized enterprises that don't understand how important to protect their data is. Some small and medium businesses are still not aware of the risks they face in the digital world. As a consequence, they are not adequately prepared to deal with cyber threats.

Preventing, detecting, and eradicating threats is a process that can be difficult when good security practices are not followed. Today SMBs can find providers that deliver cybersecurity solutions and services entirely focused on helping them.

Hiring highly qualified IT professionals in the best hardware and networking security configurations and having suitable technologies in devices and software will make it easier to detect any vulnerability and eradicate it quickly. It is up to you to protect your company or not, and it is up to you to prevent cyber threats.