Security is one of the top priorities for any business, whether it is a bricks-and-mortar premise or an online business. Security can take many forms, but the underlying reason to have it is to protect your business from a threat that could cause financial difficulties. Sometimes, if security is breached, it can cause small businesses to stop trading. If you are looking for ways you can keep your small business secure, this guide gives you some tips for both offline and online ways to protect your company.
Online Security
With cybercrime on the increase, it has never been more important to protect your business from owasp automated threats. Pen-testing your applications and backend alongside other attack tests is essential to maintaining privacy of data and security of your companies information. Keeping your customers’ data, as well as sensitive information about your business, safe is a key priority. Hackers may also try to get access to business computers to steal this information, either to use themselves or to sell to other criminals. So protecting against these measures is also essential.
To protect from cyber threats, make sure that you have good anti-virus software and update it regularly to prevent malware from infecting your computers. You should also use passwords that are difficult to guess, and that use a combination of letters, numbers, and characters. Passwords should also be changed regularly, and always use different ones to sign into different accounts.
If you have staff that takes work laptops or phones home with them, give them some training to make them aware of keeping belongings secure while commuting, and how to protect sensitive documents with strong passwords.
Practice email security by not opening spam emails that could contain harmful links. If you click on those links, it could provide a way for a hacker to access your information or to put malware on your system.
Secure Premises
Office building and work premises can be a target for thieves, as they are empty at night and often contain expensive equipment that could be sold for a profit. Keeping business premises secure is a way to stop thieves from stealing property, which could result in you having to replace equipment should your insurance not cover it. If that property contains data that should not be leaked, then you could also have financial implication as well as clients losing trust in your business.
Conduct a thorough assessment of your building’s security to know where the weak spots are, then take action to improve them. It might mean upgrading old windows, putting new locks on doors or installing shutters. Installing lighting outside your building may also be effective at warding off burglars.
Protect your buildings further by having a security alarm system and cameras. You might also have fencing installed with razor wire at the top and anti-climb paint added to deter thieves or vandals.
Building Damage
Other ways to secure a small business is to prevent financial loss through building damage. Keep up with vital heating and plumbing maintenance, such as water damage, which can take time to fix. If you do find that your building has flooded, then quickly arranging local commercial flood restoration can help minimize the damage, and could save you money.
Help keep your building is a good condition by regularly cleaning out guttering and checking the roof after bad weather. What begins as a small leak will get worse, so fix any small issues as soon as you can to prevent further costs.
Insurance
One of the best ways to keep your small business secure is to have the appropriate insurance in place. Should anything happen to your building that needs to be repaired, or if you have property stolen, you want your insurance to be able to pay for it.
While it might seem like financial sense to take out the minimum requirements when choosing insurance, to save money on your premiums, it can be counterproductive. Do your homework when choosing an insurance policy to make sure it provides everything you need, so you don’t have any surprise costs.
If you have a small business, then taking a financial loss can have serious consequences. Your business is your livelihood, so protecting it should be a priority. If you don’t know where to start, take the time to go through each possible security breach that your business could face, and see if the measures you have in place to prevent it are adequate. If not, then you need to update your security in that area. Once you have all the security measures in place, don’t forget to check on them regularly to make sure they are still effective. Having a security routine will help you to do that, so you can get on with serving your customers and clients!