When you run a business you need to keep it safe from criminals. This includes cyber criminals who might hack into your network and steal important information, including your customers’ payment details, names, and addresses. They may be able to steal other information too, like contract details or your online banking or tax records. No matter what they choose to take, the damage could be catastrophic. It’s vital that you ensure the safety of your business online. Read on for some of the best ways to do it.
Keep Everything Up to Date
When an update becomes available on your software or your operating system, it is important that you and all of your employees action it as soon as possible. Although it can mean having to shut down your computer, the updates are always going to be useful in the prevention of cyber crime. If your system is outdated it becomes vulnerable and a cyber criminal will be more familiar with how to crack your password or entry. The more often you can update your system, the more secure you will be.
Updates can also address any vulnerabilities within the system that might have become noticed by your provider. Often, you can schedule these updates to happen at a more convenient time, thus alleviating the problem of them interrupting you in your work.
Secure Your Wireless Network
If you have an open wireless network, you are inviting other people to join it – people that you don’t know. These may well be absolutely innocent people who just want access to free Wi-Fi, but they could also be dangerous cyber criminals looking to steal your information. This is why you must secure your Wi-Fi with a strong password that no one can guess.
Never write the password down and make sure that it is strong, ideally combining letters and numbers to create a code. Using names, places, and dates is a bad idea as these can be guessed. It is also important to change your passwords on a regular basis so that they are even harder to hack through.
Set Up A Firewall
A firewall is a piece of software that will block unwanted and potentially dangerous items from getting through to your network and potentially causing a problem. This kind of device, as well as a web blocker from watchguardonline.co.uk, can save you from being hacked and having your important information stolen.
Don’t just install these devices on your server as, although that is a good start, it’s not necessarily enough. You should also install them on all laptops, desktops, printers (if they are connected to the wireless network), and mobile devices. Having this protection on every device will keep you much more secure. Remember, such devices will usually need the right firewall hardware for this to be installed.
Offer Training
If your staff don’t understand the dangers of cyber crime and they don’t know what causes it, how will they be able to protect their devices – and by extension your business – against it? This is why training is important to ensure the safety of your business online.
When you train your staff, they will then be able to ascertain what a phishing email looks like, and which attachments and links to ignore, for example.
