Broadband connections and the information technology (Information Technology) is very useful and powerful tools for small and medium-sized businesses to access new markets and to increase sales and productivity.However, the threats related to cyber security are real and businesses should implement the best practices and policies to protect themselves, their customers and their data. It is also a fact that now the majority of cyber attacks made against SMEs because the latter do not invest enough to increase their security.
This article will briefly captured ten key tips to protect SMEs from these threats.
1. Educate your staff. Create basic and simple practices and security policies for your employees, such as the adoption of strong passwords (passwords) and develop appropriate Internet use policies (Internet). These policies should include details on the penalties to be entailing any such violations.Create conduct describing the handling and protection of customer information and other critical data.
2. Protect information, computers and networks from cyber attacks. Keep clean your computers: the updated security software (antivirus), web browsers and operating systems are the best defense against viruses, malware and other online threats. Configure the security software scans after each update. Install other software updates as they become available. Enable automatic update option when available. Delete suspicious messages (emails), because they may be malicious software providers.
3. Install firewall for connecting to Internet. Firewall is the set of programs that prevent people outside the company can access data of the company's private network. Make sure the firewall of the operating system is activated, otherwise install free firewall software, which is available on the Internet.
4. Create an action plan for mobile devices (smartphones, tablets). Mobile devices can create significant management and security challenges, especially if stored in such confidential information or if these gained access to the company network. Demand users to protect their devices and code to install applications that prevent theft of information when the phone is in the (unsafe) public networks.
5. Back up your important data. Create data backups on all computers. Critical data includes documents, spreadsheets (Excel type), databases, financial records, files with personal data of employees and payment records. The best practice is to back up automatically created and stored in an area outside of the enterprise.
6. Check the physical access to computers and create accounts for each employee. Prevent access or use of company computers from unauthorized persons. The laptops can be easy targets for theft. Make sure each employee has a separate account and require strong passwords. management rights should be given only to authorized personnel.
7. Secure wireless networks (Wi-Fi). If you have a wireless network in the workplace, make sure it is safe, kryptasfalismeno and hidden. To hide the wireless network Configure the router to not retransmit the network name, also known as the Service Set Identifier (SSID). Protect with a password to access the router.
8. Adopt best practices for credit cards. Work with your bank and make sure that they are used and trusted certified tools and fraud avoidance services. Isolate payment systems from other less secure programs do not use the same computer for making payments and for surfing the Internet.
9. Limit employee access to data and information and prevent the possibility of software installation. Do not give any employee access to all enterprise data systems. Employees must have access only to the data they need to do their job. They should be able to install any software without prior permission.
10. Codes and identification. Demand employees to use strong passwords and change them at least every three months. Consider if the implementation of multi-level identification is required, which requires additional information other than the password for access.
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