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Cyber Threats & The Safety Of Your Business: A Simple Guide

Cyber Threats & The Safety Of Your Business: A Simple Guide

Jargon heavy and difficult to understand. That is what too many posts out there on protecting your business in the virtual world are like. In fact, it’s likely that unless you are an IT professional, you will switch off immediately and not even finish the first paragraph! Of course, what that means is that there is a clear need for a simple cybersecurity guide. A resource that you can find in our post below. 

Ransomware 

Imagine a gunman bursting into your company and holding your employees’ hostage, rendering them unable to work until you pay a hefty ransom for their release? Well, this is essentially what cybercriminals using ransomware are doing. Although they are holding your business’s online assets and data to ransom rather than actual people!

Of course, the effect on your business is much the same because it completely halts work, and that means your company is at risk of losing money. Something that can make it very tempting to pay the ransom and get everything back up and running again. Of course, just like in a real-life situation, negotiating with gangsters is never the right option. After all, if you bend once it is likely that you will be targeted over and over again. 

Instead, you must take the server back up measures listed in the last section below, and regularly update the IT systems you are using. The reason being that those using ransomware will always be looking to exploit an older system that does not have the latest security protection.  

Unsecured networks 

Initiatives like bring your own device (BYOD) and remote working may be saving your business a decent amount of money. Sadly, they could also be putting it in danger of cybercrime. This is because many people still do not understand the difference between a secured and an unsecured network. 

Of course, the difference is actually apparent, just as it would be for a telephone line. If a network is unsecured, it means someone could be ‘listening in’ on the data being exchanged. Now, even if you are checking your social media, this is something that you will want to avoid. The reason being that hackers could be gathering all sorts of information about you, including your passwords and personal data. However, when it comes to sensitive business deals and customers’ personal information that is protected by law, a data breach can be a grave thing indeed. 

Luckily, there are some simple tactics you can use to avoid the problems of using an unsecured network. The first is to ban BYOD at work, something that ensures people will have to use your machines that you can connect to a secure in house network. 

It’s also a smart idea to forbid the use of USB data sticks as well. This being something that means employees cannot download data and then take it home to work on. A situation that could result in them using an unsecured network. 

Next, providing a VPN service for employees that need to continue to work outside of the office can be very useful. The reason being that this will ensure data is encrypted and so eliminate your communications as a potential target for hackers.

Of course, just like with everything else in the world, when it comes to VPNs, you get what you pay for. What that means is that as the post at vpngorilla suggests, free services are likely to be much less reliable than paid ones. Something that means it is usually well worth the small investment to protect your business and your customers’ sensitive information. 

Catastrophic loss of data 

The most precious of all resources in the modern world is data. In fact is information that allows you to get in contact with your customers, and know precisely what they like and dislike. Data also allows you to be able to take payments, and make deliveries, and without it, most businesses would not be able to run. 

What that means is if your business suffers a catastrophic loss of data, you are in some serious hot water. In fact, it is like someone essentially pulling the plug on your operation.  

Happily, the good news is that catastrophic data loss can be avoided if you are smart with your IT security and provision. In fact, as a plan B in case of a system infiltration by those with nefarious intentions, most businesses choose to regularly backup their data. 

Some even choose to use cloud hosting platforms, so their data is spread out across different servers and different geographical locations. Something that can make it much harder for all business-critical information to be irrevocably lost. 

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