Hacks for Enhancing your Startup’s Cybersecurity

In this day and age, we rely heavily on technology to get a new business up and running. However, if not done right, utilizing digital tools increases your potential to be targeted by hackers and cybercriminals. In this guest blog post, Katie Perkins of 8×8, a provider of cloud communications and customer engagement solutions, shares a number of tips for startups who want to enhance their security measures.

Guest Author: Katie Perkins, 8×8

Many businesses function under the false pretense that cyber hackers only target large, established companies. Due to this pretense, far too many startups neglect to keep their data safe online and ultimately suffer the consequences. Because of their lack of assets, new startups often have the least secure sites, records and system frameworks and therefore make attacks relatively simple to hackers across the web. In order to keep your startup safe, consider implementing these “hacks” to help your company avoid being hacked:

• Information Breaches

Startup owners should make themselves aware of some basic cyber attack trends and methods. One of these methods includes information breaches, which occur when cybercriminals aim to steal your organization’s information by accessing your databases illegally. Many organizations, such as Yahoo and Equifax, have suffered the consequences of large-scale data breaches in recent years. While these large attacks may seem far-off from happening to your startup due to the difference in size, smaller attacks happen just as frequently and can be just as detrimental. For startups, these smaller attacks can be disastrous to the success of a company because of the lack of resources available to contain and clean up an attack after it occurs. Because of this, having the knowledge and tools to deal with breaches on the front end can make or break the prosperity of a startup.

• Establish Access Control

The first thing you’ll want to do is inform your employees what threats look like online, so they can detect and avoid falling victim to spam or phishing emails. Spam emails are unsolicited junk emails that come from unknown sites, whereas phishing emails are meant to impersonate someone you trust to trick you into forfeiting personal information. To further protect yourself against these types of emails, establish access control to all accounts by creating strong passwords, delegating administration and non-admin accesses to employees with different responsibilities and setting up nondisclosure conditions for internal staff members. Strong passwords should include a mix of both lower and upper case letters, special characters (!,@,#,% or * for example), and should be void of personal qualifiers that could be easy to guess, such as names or addresses.

• Keep Systems up to Date

Along with updating passwords comes the need to upgrade and update security programs such as antivirus, firewall and antispam softwares. These tools will help secure your devices from outside intruders, malware, and viruses by scanning folders for disruptions in your systems in real time. Even once these programs have been implemented, ensure your working system and internet browsers are protected against the most recent dangers by updating the software as soon as possible. From there, keep past, present and future company information safe by developing a backup plan for data on company hardware continuously. Implement an automatic backup system to save your data immediately to make your life easier, or dedicate one employee to manually backup data daily. This way, you’ll reduce the risk of losing sensitive documents by having a second copy stored in an external drive, cloud or disk.

• Use Safe Tools

Because most of your business transactions happen online, there’s an increased need to upgrade your communication tools to ensure they are secure. Whether your employees spend the majority of their time making phone calls, sending emails or interacting via virtual meetings, they likely use multiple different devices every day. To avoid purchasing brand new company devices, consider implementing cloud capabilities to your pre-existing devices for the same effect with a more affordable price tag. Do your research and be sure to choose a cloud that offers secure communication tools to ensure your business stays protected throughout all communication efforts. Hosting your information in the cloud makes it easy for authorized personnel to work from any physical location, granting them the flexibility to work from home or stay connected to the office while traveling.

Following these hacks will set your small business venture up for success by locking down sensitive information that should be kept confidential. From establishing access control to using safe tools, these tips are financially feasible for startups to implement right away. Help combat the risks of cyber attackers and ensure your business will run smoothly.

Interested in contributing a guest blog? Share your ideas with us by following this link.