Cyber security is a big deal. To put it into some perspective, cyber crime is costing UK businesses an estimated £30 billion every year and rising.

Therefore, unsurprisingly, cyber crime has caused many businesses to close.

So, it’s time to start making cyber security a priority! But, how do you go about it?

Here are some essential tips for protecting your business against cyber crime.

“Cyber Risk Reviews must consider IT in your facilities such as AirCon, Lifts, Doors, Alarms & CCTV not just networks” – Cevn Vibert, Industrial Cyber Security Advisory Director at Vibert Solutions

Before you take any action, you need to work out how secure you are currently. The easiest way to do this is to run a cyber security audit. This will help you identify all potential threats from multiple sources.

Stay up to date with all the latest cyber threats! From key logging to cookie theft, there are multiple forms of hacking that can threaten your business.

The threats to your business are constantly changing, so keeping up to date will help you protect your business.

While installing malware is essential, the threats to your business can be unobvious. Hacking can come from outside sources! Be aware that if some of your employees are using their own devices, they could be infected.

Make Cyber Security a Business Priority

“Don’t wait for an incident to occur, act now to protect the network and assets within it. Failure to do so can have significant impacts financially and impact the reputation of an organisation to a degree which they may not recover from” – Dan Driver, Head of Perception at Chemring Technology Solutions

Once you’ve completed your risk assessment, you can start making cyber security a priority.

Implement a cyber security policy and ensure all employees adhere to it. This includes outside contractors!

Be open with all of your staff! Make sure you’ve informed everyone of the steps you’re taking against cyber security and ensure they know it’s their responsibility to help protect against threats.

Having a plan in place is particularly important when sharing data with third parties. Make sure they’re aware of the steps you’re taking to tackle cyber crime. Anyone who doesn’t stick to your security measures could threaten the entire process!

It sounds obvious, but one particular area of focus should be passwords. Ensure your staff stores the password details safely – away from the device.

Any awareness of unusual activity will help you protect against attacks!

Leverage Existing Schemes

“The most important stuff isn’t complex. Getting the basics right with Cyber Essentials can greatly reduce the threats” – Richard Bach, Co-Founder & Director at XQ Cyber.

Not sure where to start? There are multiple trusted solutions and schemes to help you safeguard against cyber crime.

If followed correctly, the government-backed Cyber Essentials scheme can protect against 80% of all cyber attacks. The scheme has been tailored specifically for SMEs.

Cyber security might sound daunting, but there are plenty of solutions out there to help you!

Assume You’ll Be Hacked

“Prepare and test a plan to identify, communicate and recover to ensure you can rapidly resume business with limited impact” – Sam Smith, Head of Digital Risk and Security at Cadent Gas Ltd.

When it comes to cyber security, prepare for the worst.

Making sure you’re prepared for all eventualities will help you tackle a security breach if it occurs!

Ask yourself:

  • Is your customer data safe?
  • Are you backing up all your systems?
  • Is your business-critical data secure?
  • How will your business cope during a period of temporary downtime?

Being proactive and thinking strategically will not only help you safeguard against attacks, but will mean you’re more equipped to deal with them if they happen.

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