With the threats from data breaches and hacking attacks grabbing so many headlines around the world these days, it should come as no surprise that many small business owners might be thinking a little more pointedly about the ways in which they might be vulnerable. However, coming up with plans to more significantly protect a company from such incidents, and then putting those ideas into practice, isn’t always as easy as many entrepreneurs might like.
The fact of the matter is that because there are so many ways for data breaches to happen – either maliciously or even by accident – that it’s difficult for a company of any size to fully protect itself from them, according to a report from the Arizona Republic. But when it comes to smaller businesses in particular, the ability to build proper safeguards becomes even more difficult, because doing so is often expensive, and most firms of that size often don’t have the free money in their budget to improve in this way.
Today, the latest data suggests that nearly half of all small businesses nationwide have been hit with some kind of cyber attack, and many have been victimized more than once, the report said. The problem for many companies, though, isn’t necessarily the fact that the attacks happened, but more the costs associated with remediating the issues; the average incident costs as much as $9,000. Further, when personal or company data is exposed, the fallout can take a long time to even show up.
So what can be done?
These days, the simplest and most cost effective ways to make sure companies can keep themselves safe from these attacks is to use common sense, the report said. Make sure all systems are using security software, and that the networks on which operate are kept private. Further, companies should also try to limit access to devices and sensitive accounts to only the people who need to use them, and make sure they’re all heavily password protected. And often, a few rounds of employee training designed specifically to educate workers about the threats they face, and how to avoid being victimized by them.
Companies that are concerned about the costs associated with a data breach might also want to consider the ways in which small business insurance policies can help them deal with such costly potential issues. Tech insurance, for example, may be able to save affected companies thousands of dollars or more when an incident occurs.
