Startups and small businesses are one of the major targets for cyberattacks, yet it is surprising how they lack integral security measures. In fact, a study by Ninja One states that around 83% of small and medium-sized businesses are unprepared to breathe back from the financial damages incurred by a cyber attack.
This makes startups, which fall under the umbrella of small businesses, very vulnerable to data breaches. Not to mention, this can be devastating for their immediate and future operations and can lead to a permanent shut down. In order to identify the growing threat, many startups and their entrepreneurs need to meet some online security measures. Moreover, many of them are now, in fact, implementing tools and practices to mitigate the chances of being exploited.
But, what are these essential online measures? Why is cybersecurity for startups so important? In this guide, we’ll understand what it takes to protect sensitive data you and your employees have, along with some major principles that you can implement to stop vulnerability at all costs. So, without delaying any longer, let’s get into the details.
Many ask themselves, “Why I become an entrepreneur?”. For them, we can say: To change the world, to change a system, to bring ease. However, becoming an entrepreneur can still be easy. But, continuing to be one can be difficult, especially with rising threats, data breaches, cash flow issues, and so many other overlapping problems.
Businesses have to face and tackle several threats that can, if not taken care of, jeopardize all the sensitive information they store. Let’s look at each threat in detail:
This is one of the most common threats, and there is absolutely nobody on the planet who doesn’t know about it. It can be viruses, phishing, or ransomware – among so many other names.
These “cyber threats” actually target the digital infrastructure of a startup. The most terrifying part is that they have the power to exploit your data in all the wrong ways possible.
Most importantly, they can steal your data, disrupt operations within the company, or hold the data hostage for as long as possible. Cyberattacks affected more than half of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the preceding year, and these online adversaries cost businesses an astounding $10.5 trillion a year.
Many forget that physical threats are as important as any other threat. From natural disasters, floods, theft, and vandalism – any disruptions like this can cause property damage, hinder continuous business operations, and incur major financial losses.
Several entrepreneurs don’t usually realize this soon enough, but the actions of an employee, intentional or unintentional, can pose major threats to the startup. Strong security awareness training is compulsory because "internal threats" can include inadvertently clicking on malicious emails or aggrieved employees stealing data.
“External threats”, as the name suggests very clearly, stems from outside your business. It can be anything between competitors trying to steal important data or hackers launching attacks to your internal network – the reasons can be multifold.
Let’s now understand some of the major online security measures you, as an entrepreneur, can take to safeguard any kind of sensitive data:
There is no doubt that even the strongest systems need a comprehensive health check-up at times. In simple words, a security audit is when you assess the current security measures and try to determine if anything seems out of place or has possible vulnerabilities. This is where you have to make sure that your systems are secure, up to date, and efficiently guarding your assets.
Experts with a broader idea about cyber threats know that the primary risk to a business is not technology or the current security systems installed, but the people behind it, using this technology firsthand. No matter how expensive your IT equipment is or how strict your firewalls are, every expert agrees on this together.
This typically happens because staff members are unaware of how to handle suspicious situations or do not consider them dangerous enough. Instruct them on how to spot warning signals and react appropriately if something does not seem right. For example, ask them to avoid fake IT calls where someone on the other side asks for personal details or work IDs.
In business technology, all your equipment receives regular security fixes. Thus, never forget to update them as soon as the update rolls out. This can protect your system from hackers trying to access and use your sensitive information against your will. Beware of “suspicious links” that often come into everyone’s systems since that can potentially be a way to trick you.
This is among one of the most important questions your business should answer. As a startup, having a ""second layer"" of protection can be the cherry on top of the cake. Security operations (SecOps) practices, which the streamline monitoring and management of security processes, play a crucial role here. But, more importantly, it can safeguard you from potential threats as hackers have to verify their identity through a 2FA. Now, it could be anything from a fingerprint to an OTP sent via mail.
Laptops and mobile phones are among the most vulnerable devices to theft or loss, so it is necessary that you secure them anyhow. Either way, it can create a massive problem.
In this case, you need to apply a few important methodologies. Some of the major security steps can include encryption. How does it help? It can enable data to be deleted absolutely anywhere, making sure that the devices are locked whenever they are not is continuous use.
This can be best explained through an example. For instance, when a laptop or a cell phone goes missing, you can simply delete all sensitive information, even reset the device, to prevent any type of unauthorized access to your personal information.
As an entrepreneur, you need to make sure that your startup’s internal Wi-Fi networks are strong enough to avoid data breach.
To be precise, your Wi-Fi isn’t actually as secure as you might think, even when it is equipped with faster standards like 802.11 ax. Primarily, it is only as secure when the protocols you implement are robust.
Here are some tips you can leverage:
- Always use strong passwords for the devices you are using. It can be printers, cameras, or point-of-sale systems too.
- Get your website secured with a cheap PositiveSSL certificate and improve credibility without going over budget.
- Make sure that you have disabled the SSID broadcasting to hide your network from malicious people.
- To automatically prevent unwanted access attempts, keep track of the devices that are authorized to your network.
Security for businesses, including startups, is actually more important than you think. The gravity of the situation is increasing day by day, as preventable security issues that could be solved earlier, are taking down businesses of all forms, especially startups.
You are only one right security practice away from protecting your entire organization from scams, frauds, data breaches, and whatnot. You hold the power of protection; the choices you make can dictate what occurs to your business. So, choose wisely.
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