How to Prevent a Data Breach in Your Small Business

Data breaches are becoming more and more common these days, with many small businesses reporting that they have experienced a data breach in the past year.

These types of cyberattacks can be disastrous for your business, but you can take some steps to reduce the risk of it happening to you. This blog post will discuss five ways to prevent a data breach in your small business.

1. Limit Data Exposure

Limit data exposure is one way to prevent a breach by simply limiting the amount of data you store in one place. For example, if your company stores all customer information on a single database or server and gets hacked into, it will expose all of that customer info.

However, if each department has its separate servers containing its information, then a breach would only expose the data of that one department.

Include backup copies in your backup system. You should also include backups as part of your overall security plan. If you back up all of your company’s documents and important files onto an external hard drive or cloud storage service, for example, then those backups will be safe if your servers are breached.

2. Use a Password Manager

Another way to secure passwords is by using a password manager for small businesses that create unique, random passwords for each account.

It enables employees only to have the responsibility of memorizing one (strong and complex) master password instead of remembering dozens or even hundreds of different login credentials.

Furthermore, these managers will automatically log employees into company accounts without them having to type a password every time they use their computers.

In addition, you can also take advantage of multi-factor authentication schemes by implementing two-step verification on all network devices and software applications that allow it.

In most cases, this additional step will involve sending a one-time code to the user’s mobile device or email address, which they will need to enter to complete the login process.

3. Safeguard Data

This is one of the security measures that you can take to help prevent hackers from stealing your company’s data by investing in a managed service provider. You can use a third-party firm to take care of this.

This third-party firm will handle all of the various administrative tasks and maintenance duties related to managing your network, such as installing new software updates or troubleshooting any server speed/connectivity problems.

Have a well-documented incident response plan in place, which will provide clear instructions for what employees need to do when there is a cyberattack or data breach.

If your business experiences an attack of any kind, this document will help ensure that everyone knows how they can contribute and what they can do to minimize the damage.

4. Keep Security Software Up-To-Date

You should also have strong security software in place to protect your company’s computers, servers, and other network devices from cyberattacks.

This includes anti-virus programs and firewalls that help monitor all incoming/outgoing traffic across the web to prevent hackers from gaining access or stealing sensitive data.

Keep your software up-to-date by installing any updates or patches that are released for it whenever possible. It will ensure that hackers cannot exploit older product versions and gain unauthorized access to company data without being detected.

5. Educate Employees

The final security measure you can take to prevent a data breach is educating your employees about cybersecurity best practices. It can include developing an ongoing training program that they must regularly complete to remain up-to-date with hackers’ most recent threats and techniques.

The more employees know about these issues, the better they can spot a potential threat and respond accordingly.

Recent studies have shown that over 90% of all successful cyberattacks can be prevented if an employee takes action within 30 minutes after spotting suspicious activity on their company’s network.

Provide employees with a list of guidelines to follow when using company computers or to log into the network.

These tips will help them avoid common mistakes which can lead to security breaches, including opening suspicious email attachments, downloading unknown programs/files, and clicking on links from untrusted sources.

Image source