SMBs also tend to be highly mobile, adaptive organizations, and this means that they have an increased surface area for cyber attacks<\/a> due to the number of different systems and resources they use.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no surprise, then, that according to the 2018 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report<\/a>, 58 percent of all cyberattacks targeted small businesses, and that in 2018 48 percent of data breaches involved hacking, and 30 percent featured malware.<\/p>\n Thankfully, there are some steps you can take to protect your business, such as following these 5 critical cyber security tips<\/a> for small and midsize businesses:<\/p>\n Table of Contents<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t It\u2019s also worth reviewing the services that you already outsource, in order to make sure that your business partners are taking cybersecurity as seriously as you are. One area that is particularly critical for SMBs, but also often overlooked, is web hosting.<\/p>\n Do you note infrequent times when your site is down? You might not make an intuitive connection between downtime and security vulnerabilities but it exists. A site that is offline indicates something could be wrong at your host\u2019s server and it might be hackers at play.<\/p>\n What is a reasonable uptime expectation? Maybe higher than you think. In collaboration with Pingdom, consumer research group HostingCanada.org<\/a> found that hosts with an annual average uptime with less than 99.95% were untenable as a business solution. That may seem quite good, but even 0.05% of downtime equates to more than 43 hours<\/b> of a website being offline over the course of a year. The bottom line - web hosts that can\u2019t keep your site up at that rate can be a major vulnerability for your business.<\/p>\n Further reading<\/span> Every Month Is Cybersecurity Awareness Month<\/a><\/p>\n The consequences of not updating your software can be severe, though. The Equifax breach<\/a> was one of the biggest stories of 2018 and involved the personal information of 143 million people being exposed. One of the strangest aspects of the leak, though, was that it would not have happened had Equifax updated their security software.<\/p>\n This leak was made worse by the fact that Equifax did not tell anyone about the breach for 6 weeks, thereby incurring fines on top of those they already faced. This, in turn, points to another type of vulnerability that you should take seriously as an SMB: the heavy fines <\/b>that can follow a data breach.<\/p>\n Even with the best security in the world, mistakes sometimes occur, and you should plan for them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If the initial data breach doesn\u2019t kill your business, the fines might<\/a>. This is particularly relevant for SMBs, because where a bigger organization can absorb the cleanup and containment costs of a breach, SMBs may not even survive the attack. According to the U.S. National Cyber Security Alliance, 60 percent of small companies are unable to sustain their business more than six months following a cyberattack.<\/a><\/p>\n Further reading<\/span> The Importance of Patching While Working Remotely<\/a><\/p>\n Believe it or not, many people are still not using strong passwords for their online or business accounts, and many still do not know how to spot a simple email scam. According to a recent Verizon report, one-fifth of data breaches are caused by human error, and this represents just as large a risk to SMBs as any technical infrastructure.<\/p>\n Employee education and employment procedures should, therefore, take into account three primary sources of risk.<\/p>\n Further reading<\/span>\u00a0Creating a Robust Cybersecurity Training Program<\/a><\/p>\n The solution here is twofold. First, make sure that access to your physical infrastructure is limited to those who need it. Second, you can monitor access to your premises and key pieces of office infrastructure using video cameras.<\/p>\n<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
1. Consider Managed IT Services<\/h2>\n
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One of the easiest ways to improve your cybersecurity is to outsource it to experts who know how to protect your systems. Today, many companies offer managed IT services that are designed with data security in mind, and these cover all aspects of business operations.<\/p>\n2. Patch Your Vulnerabilities<\/h2>\n
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Second, update your software. We all know we should do this, but it often gets overlooked in a busy working environment.<\/p>\n3. Educate Your Employees<\/h2>\n
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Another huge source of risk for SMBs is poor staff knowledge and training, or even disgruntled employees deliberately leaking information.<\/p>\n\n
4. Physically Secure Your Network<\/h2>\n
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Amid all the talk about securing systems and networks, it\u2019s easy to forget that physical devices are also a source of vulnerability. You can have the strongest network protections in the world and the best-trained staff, but sometimes overcoming your security measures is as easy as an attacker walking into your office and re-setting your router.<\/p>\n![\"CTA\"](\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/5442029\/4a146d91-d63d-4e82-9aab-1f5f0c43f780.png\")
<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n5. Use Firewalls<\/h2>\n
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Finally, make sure you do what the SBA (Small Business Administration) has been