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In today’s digital world, safeguarding your organization’s online assets is critical. Unfortunately, poor password hygiene practices by some employees cause problems for many small businesses, leaving them vulnerable to hackers. Cybercriminals are constantly trying to find new ways to break into business systems. Sadly, too often, they succeed thanks to weak passwords. In fact, nearly 50% of cyberattacks last year involved weak or stolen passwords.* This calls for small businesses like yours to step up and take password security seriously and implement strong password policies. Fortunately, there are a few best practices that you can follow to protect your business. Before we get into those, here are the top 10 most common passwords available on the dark web that you should avoid at all costs: 123456 123456789 Qwerty Password 12345 12345678 111111 1234567 123123 Qwerty123 Password best practices When your team is aware of password best practices, they can significantly ramp up your cybersecurity. Use a password manager One of the most important things to keep your passwords safe is to use a password manager. A password manager helps you create and store strong passwords for all your online accounts. Password managers can also help you keep track of your passwords and ensure they are unique for each account. Implement single sign-on (SSO) Single sign-on is a popular password solution that allows users to access multiple applications with one set of credentials. This means that you only need to remember one password to access all your online accounts. While SSO is a convenient solution, remember that all your accounts are only as secure as your SSO password. So, if you’re using SSO, make a strong, unique password that you don’t use for anything else. Avoid reusing passwords on multiple accounts If a hacker gains access to one of your accounts, they will try to use that same password to access your other accounts. By having different passwords for different accounts, you can limit the damage that a hacker can cause. However, avoid jotting down your passwords on a piece of paper and instead depend on a safe solution like using a reliable password manager. Make use of two-factor authentication (2FA) One of the best ways to protect your online accounts is to use two-factor authentication (2FA). In addition to your password, 2FA requires you to enter a code from your phone or another device. Even if someone knows your password, this method makes it much more difficult for them to hack into your account. While 2FA is not perfect, it is a robust security measure that can assist in the protection of your online accounts. We recommend that you begin using 2FA if you haven’t already. If you use 2FA, make sure each account has a strong and unique code. Don’t use the information available on your social media Many people use social media to connect with friends and family, stay up to date on current events or share their thoughts and experiences with others. However, social media can also be a source of valuable personal information for criminals. When creating passwords, you must avoid using information easily obtainable on your social media accounts. This includes your name, birth date and other details that could be used to guess your password. By taking this precaution, you can help keep your accounts safe and secure. An IT service provider can help you As cyberattacks become more sophisticated, you may not be able to devote sufficient time and effort to combat them. As an IT service provider, we can ensure your team creates strong passwords, stores them securely and changes them on a regular basis. Schedule a no-obligation consultation with us today to learn more about how we can help protect you from poor password hygiene.

When looking for cyber insurance for your small business, you may find it hard to navigate technology and insurance jargon. There are even different types of cyber coverage and you might not be sure what you need because you’re not a cybersecurity expert. Plus, once you do have coverage, there’s always the risk of not receiving a payout in the event of an incident if you didn’t meet your policy’s requirements. Partnering with an IT service provider can make your journey to qualify for cyber insurance easier in so many ways. Keep reading to find out how. An IT service provider can help you Although an expert IT service provider can bring a lot to the table on matters regarding security, backup and compliance to help you stay protected, in terms of cyber insurance, you can get assistance with the following: Auditing and complying with insurance policies While meeting your cyber insurance policy requirements is ultimately up to you, you can improve your chances of receiving a payout following an incident by partnering with a specialized IT service provider. The majority of insurance policies require you to take specific actions to reduce your risk of a cyberattack. These actions may involve maintaining strict security protocols and procedures, regularly backing up data and more. An IT service provider can help handle all of these and ensure that the appropriate security measures are followed to protect your data and comply with policy requirements. An IT service provider can also help make documenting your security measures easier. Picking the right coverage for your business Without an in-depth understanding of cybersecurity, it can be difficult to know which type of cyber insurance is best for your company out of the many available options (theft, liability, and extortion). An IT service provider can evaluate your company and direct you toward the right coverage. The drawback of not having the right insurance coverage is that you’ll have to pay the premium and get nothing in return when you really need it. Improving your cybersecurity posture Insurance companies are wary of taking on too much risk due to the skyrocketing rate of cybercrime. Although this makes obtaining cyber insurance coverage challenging, it is not impossible. If you have a strong cybersecurity posture, your chances of getting coverage will be higher. An IT service provider can help you assess your cybersecurity risks and recommend ways to improve your overall cybersecurity posture. They can also help you implement security controls and monitor your network for threats. If you do suffer a data breach, an IT service provider can help you with the incident response process. The decision is yours If you’re hoping to qualify for a cyber insurance policy, a specialized IT service provider like us can help. We can use our expertise and experience to help you choose the right policy for your business and meet your policy’s requirements. Feel free to reach out for a no-obligation consultation where you can decide if we’re the right partner for you.

The last two years have been a bumpy ride for organizations of all sizes globally. During this time, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) were hit the worst. Since most SMBs have limited cash and resources, setbacks were much more severe for them than for big corporations with more resources. Irrespective of whether your company had to completely shut down during the COVID-19 lockdowns or whether it had to create a touchless customer experience or transition to a remote workforce overnight, you may have had so much more at stake than the average business. Whether you’re facing a global pandemic or something as simple as shifting market conditions, if you want to survive and reach your business objectives, you must improve your organization’s speed, adaptability and innovation. To do that, an SMB like yours requires even more business agility. What is business agility? Business agility is all about having systems in place that provide flexibility to respond quickly to rapidly changing conditions and opportunities by preparing your people, processes and technologies. Businesses that prioritize agility can manage their growth in a flexible, independent and productive manner. As a result, efficiency increases and costs decrease. With this approach, you don’t predetermine the way forward. Instead, iterative changes are made based on feedback loops generated throughout the growth process, such as from employees and other key stakeholders. You can prepare to make additional changes based on future suggestions once you’ve made changes to accommodate all the constructive recommendations. Since clients are also involved in the process, you can use their feedback to identify priorities and make changes. Benefits of bringing agility to your SMB By being agile, your business can experience the following benefits: More responsive to change We, as humans, have a difficult time adapting to change. This resistance to adapt to change frequently spills over into our business as well, resulting in the stunting of our growth trajectory. Business agility prepares your organization to adapt to change faster, with fewer adverse effects on the business. Quick adaptiveness to the market If there’s one thing that businesses usually don’t have in the face of rapid change it’s sufficient time to plan. This lack of time to find a solution to a problem can cause additional problems. Businesses that are agile and flexible can quickly adapt to a changing market or customers’ changing needs. Less risk of extended downtime Downtime is a business killer that can lead to employee and customer resentment if it occurs frequently. It’s your responsibility as a business executive to ensure that your company is protected from downtime. Riding the path of business agility allows you to adapt your business to changing circumstances without experiencing extended downtime. Protected bottom line Plugging all financial leaks is critical because money is required to create more value for your customers and to grow your business. Therefore, it’s crucial to avoid unexpected roadblocks that appear out of nowhere and burn a hole in your wallet. Being flexible and agile is the best way to adapt quickly to sudden road bumps and not lose money. Benefits of bringing agility to your SMB Ultimately, prioritizing agility in your SMB increases your chances of meeting your objectives and succeeding in business. However, developing organizational agility is easier said than done, especially when you already have countless other responsibilities. It may require more time and effort than you have available. As a result, partnering with a managed service provider (MSP) like us may be the best option to ease your journey towards organizational agility. Contact us for more details.

Are you planning to include your IT needs in your annual budget this year? If so, congratulations! You’re doing something incredible to ensure your small business’ success. Budgeting for technology can be tricky. On the one hand, you want to be ready for anything, but you also don’t want to overspend and waste valuable resources. It’s a delicate balance that many fail to achieve. We’ve compiled a list of the most common technology budgeting mistakes you should avoid. Keep reading to learn more about those oversights. Watch out for these mistakes By avoiding these mistakes, you can ensure you’re making the best use of your resources and getting the most bang for your buck. Mistake #1: The cheapest option is always the best In this modern digitized era, technology shouldn’t be an afterthought. Investing in high-quality technology can significantly improve your bottom line. Streamlining workflows, increasing employee productivity and improving customer satisfaction are all excellent reasons to invest in quality technology. Just as you would not attempt to run a marathon with inadequate preparation, you should not try to run your business with subpar technology. Invest in high-quality technology and watch the difference it makes in your business. Mistake #2: Last year’s IT budget will work for this year As technology and cybersecurity threats evolve and advance, businesses need to stay up to date to succeed. This can be challenging because budgets are often tight, and it can be hard to justify spending on new technology when old systems are still operational. You can overcome this barrier by conducting internal assessments to identify friction points and areas where upgrading to a new system or platform could improve business outcomes. This information can help make a case for the necessary expenditure to stay relevant and improve your company’s long-term success. Mistake #3: One person can handle all my IT needs Even an IT genius needs the occasional vacation or day off. Augmenting internal resources with an IT service provider can help bridge gaps and give relief to your internal resources. IT service providers can help take on some of the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. This can help improve job satisfaction and employee retention since your team members will feel appreciated and empowered to take time off when necessary, without jeopardizing your company’s IT infrastructure. Another crucial factor is that an IT service provider can help you in areas the internal IT team doesn’t have adequate bandwidth to cover or in which they do not excel. Mistake #4: Thinking short-term Always keep your overall business objectives in mind when budgeting for IT needs. Purchasing solutions that cannot grow with you is wasteful. You will end up spending more money in the long run. You can avoid potential roadblocks and extra costs by planning ahead as much as possible. Partner for success Partnering with an IT service provider can be an excellent strategy for IT budgeting. Working with a service provider allows you to understand your IT needs and the cost to meet them. A specialized IT service provider, like us, can also help you in staying within your budget by providing cost-effective solutions that meet your specific needs.

While you would not expect a technology company to discuss topics such as trust, we’re not like most managed service providers (MSPs). We understand how technology affects trust and impacts your people, processes and bottom line. That’s why we’re here to show you how to leverage trust to achieve your organizational goals. When we talk about trust in the technology industry, we usually mean zero trust. While that’s an equally important topic, it isn’t the topic of discussion here. In this blog post, we’ll concentrate on how technology and processes can help your business build trust with employees and customers. According to Forrester Research, trust is confidence in the high probability that a person or organization will spark a specific positive outcome in a relationship. Roadmap to trust-building Since trust has a significant impact on the future course of your business, take extra care while nurturing it. Consider the following six actions when striving to improve organizational trust with employees, customers and other stakeholders. 1. Place extra emphasis on trust-building Without a strong level of trust that supports collaboration and innovation, no firm can achieve long-term success. The most effective leaders foster an environment where employees feel free to discuss the latest, groundbreaking topics. 2. Understand the concept of trust from both inside and outside the company Trust can only be fostered inside the organization if the leadership is competent and has the employees’ best interests at heart. Employees must feel as if they are part of a team working toward a common goal. Transparency can earn trust from the perspective of an outsider. This entails being honest, open and accountable. 3. Determine stakeholders to build trust with Your target stakeholders should be the ones who care about your product or service. They might be customers, clients, employees or partners. Once you’ve identified your target stakeholders, it’s crucial to understand what they want from you. Then, it’s time to reach out to them with the intention of trust-building in a way that resonates with them. 4. Express trust quantitatively To begin quantifying trust, start by answering the following questions: What are the criteria and elements that go into deciding whether or not to trust someone? In a given scenario or relationship, how much trust is there? What factors contribute to increased or decreased trust? 5. Proactively invest in building, mending and improving trust Investments made to strengthen trust must be seen as an investment for the future. This is because the benefits of safeguarding and nurturing trust extend beyond the company’s internal operations to its relationships with customers and other external partners. 6. Realize that trust management is not a one-time exercise The digital world has introduced a new challenge for businesses of all sizes: trust management. For leaders, this means an ongoing effort to assess and rebuild trust, sometimes from the ground up. This may seem like a daunting task, but it is inevitable and something that businesses must proactively undertake. Are you confused about where to begin? Many businesses do not value trust-building without realizing that it can make or break their organizations. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) must strive to build trust among their customers, employees and partners to survive and thrive. However, keep in mind that even a careless mistake can damage trust, and when it happens, it can be difficult for a small business to bounce back. This is where an expert MSP like us can help. Our expertise and knowledge can smoothly guide you on the path of trust-building. Reach out for a no-obligation consultation today.

With the new year around the corner, now is an excellent time to review your organization’s budget to ensure your business has the resources it needs to continue to grow and prosper in the coming year. It’s important to understand that in today’s highly digitized environment, technology shouldn’t be an afterthought. You need to have a clear and well-defined IT budget since an unanticipated technology issue in the middle of the year could cause trouble. In this blog post, we’ll explore a few key things to keep in mind while budgeting for your IT needs. Always assess your business needs As technology advances at a breakneck pace, regular technology refreshes become increasingly essential for any company hoping to stay successful. Rather than simply assuming you’ll need the same IT budget as last year, take the time to assess your organization’s current needs, as well as how upgrading or moving to different platforms might help your company meet those needs. Just like most technology-backed businesses, you should allocate your IT budget to improve these four areas: Routine IT services Hackers are always on the lookout for vulnerabilities in your business network. You need to identify these weaknesses in your IT infrastructure so that your business network isn’t compromised. Make sure you continuously monitor your network with a vulnerability scanning solution to identify potential problems and develop the best preventive measures. Projects Businesses frequently neglect critical IT projects, such as securing their networks, leaving them vulnerable to attacks. Hackers can easily access your network if your employees use unsecured Wi-Fi. Risks associated with free Wi-Fi hotspots include network compromise, evil twin attacks and exploits. Setting up a secure VPN for your virtual workforce is the best way to avoid these events. Refreshes Keeping legacy systems may appear to be the easiest and most economically sound option, but it can actually decrease employee productivity and harm your bottom line. You’re also more susceptible to hacking if your security patches are outdated. As a result, annual technology refreshes are critical to ensuring the optimal performance of your IT infrastructure. Accidents or incidents You’ll need a plan in place to tackle an accident or incident, such as a cybercriminal demanding a ransom. Discovering that hackers have encrypted all your systems can be disastrous, not just financially but also in terms of your reputation. When planning your technology budget, focus on strengthening your cybersecurity posture so you can mitigate today’s sophisticated threats. An IT service provider might be what you need An IT service provider can play a vital role in guiding you through anything IT-related, including cybersecurity, backup, compliance, budgeting and more. An IT service provider can help with: Internal support: Internal IT department or IT team The most common type of support is through an internal IT department or IT team. Usually, businesses with a committed IT team are enterprises, while small businesses may have only one IT staff member or none at all. External support: Outsourced IT service provider An external IT service provider, like us, can support your business in multiple ways, such as assessing your IT infrastructure to formulate a plan for budgeting decisions, providing advice on the best IT solutions, and assisting with implementation and setup. Hybrid support: A combination of internal and external IT services If you have an existing internal IT team but have areas they cannot cover, you can outsource those areas to an external specialist. Outsourcing your IT needs or opting for hybrid support alongside your internal IT team can reduce a great deal of stress since our specialists can help lighten the load and show you the right way to prepare a budget. To get started, contact us today for a no-obligation consultation.

Are you up to date with the current technology landscape? Do you have an idea of what it will look like in the next five to 10 years? Knowing this information is crucial as it can significantly impact your business. The technology landscape is constantly evolving. Organizations must keep up with these developments to avoid being left behind by competitors and customers. This is where tech acceleration can come to the rescue. We define it as intelligently improving the technology that employees rely on in a way that considers the future and helps organizations achieve long-term goals. A few reasons why keeping up with evolving technologies is critical include: Bringing together all of the necessary tools that integrate saves time and effort while increasing overall efficiency. You can boost productivity by improving the employee experience with streamlined technology and processes. It is possible to improve security by removing obsolete technologies that no longer receive critical security upgrades. Before you bring new technology solutions and products into your infrastructure, there are a few things you need to consider for tech acceleration to be beneficial in the long run. Elements of effective tech acceleration 1. Think long-term instead of mere rapid acceleration Technology adoption has increased at a breakneck pace thanks to the onset of pandemic restrictions. These fast choices and implementations helped many organizations remain relatively unscathed by utilizing remote working and other collaborative solutions. However, now that we’ve had time to adapt to the “new normal,” it’s clear that brisk change isn’t always beneficial to the long-term success of an organization. While these technology upgrades helped SMBs stay in business during the chaotic year that was 2020, they also resulted in several hiccups that ranged from integration challenges to limited long-term value. That’s why the time is ripe to prepare for the future by adopting smart tech acceleration. This requires a thorough examination and assessment to evaluate whether your present systems are advanced and integrated enough to support your business objectives over the next five to 10 years, and not just the present. 2. Evaluate previous technology investments Examine your tech acceleration investments from the previous year (if you have any) to identify where you need improvements. It’s critical to assess whether prior investments have served your long-term vision/goals. Only then will you be able to determine whether your acceleration is on the right track or not. 3. Benchmarking What is the status of your tech acceleration environment? If it isn’t meeting your expectations, find out what other firms are doing differently to achieve better results. Consider what changes you can make to improve your organization’s performance to align it closer to your vision. The metric used to monitor the progress of your tech acceleration initiative should consider levels of cybersecurity, customer experience, employee experience, technology integration across the organization, backups, compliance and so on. 4. Consider the total experience (TX) Total experience can be defined as a blend of customer and employee experiences (CX and EX). By breaking down silos and integrating technology with the employees, customers and users, total experience improves the overall experience. It focuses on addressing customer/employee needs to produce better long-term and meaningful business outcomes. Experts estimate that by 2026, 60% of large enterprises will use total experience (TX) to transform their business models in order to achieve world-class customer and employee advocacy levels.* 5. Committing to integration Individually outstanding solutions that don’t integrate (or that your company doesn’t commit to integrating) will not serve you in the long run or help you scale. Systematic integration unifies the customer and employee experience, reducing the risk of error, increasing efficiency and providing the opportunity to automate repetitive operations, among other benefits. Collaborate for success If your organization doesn’t invest in smart tech acceleration, your competition could overtake you in the market. It’s time to say goodbye to short-term fixes that aren’t helping you achieve your goals and upgrade your IT ecosystem to help you achieve greater productivity and operational success for the long term. An MSP like us can help you find, implement, fine-tune and manage your technology infrastructure to ensure it’s moving you towards your long-term goals and vision. Feel free to contact us today for a no-obligation consultation to see how we can bring smart tech acceleration to your business.

Being a sustainable business means more than just recycling and using renewable energy. It means laying the groundwork for future employee and customer growth. An organization with sustainability as one of its core principles has a better chance of success in the future. Three attributes of a sustainable organization are: • Continuity or the ability to repeat processes• Availability or the ability to adapt to sudden changes• Scalability or the ability to scale up or down as needed Although some businesses grow exponentially over a short time, if they don’t have repeatable processes to support new hires and onboarding, everything falls apart. These processes must also be adaptable enough to change as needed to meet organizational requirements. Businesses also need to be able to scale or grow/reduce resources on demand. As a business leader, you should prioritize sustainable scaling over rapid, unsustainable growth because rapid shifts aimed at addressing a current problem without due diligence can backfire later and become a blot on your organization’s growth story. What fuels a sustainable business? Never miss these if you aim to grow sustainably: Platform for growth All your business solutions should connect to a central hub and act as a platform for growth to improve productivity and efficiency. Instead of focusing on the features and functionality of each solution, think about the capabilities of the combined solutions. Updated documentation A simple and powerful automated documentation system can help your employees work more effectively. It allows your employees to modify or revise existing templates in the document generation system to comply with changing regulations. This helps manage and create business documents on time with greater accuracy. Learning management An integrated learning management system can help you customize and manage employee training across teams and accelerate employee engagement. Remember, the more knowledgeable your employees are and the longer they stay, the better they serve your customers. So, never be afraid to invest in human resources training because it yields a high return on investment (preventing even a single phishing attempt can save your company thousands). Integration Because they consolidate data, solutions that successfully integrate can be a long-term asset for your organization. However, some executives overlook this, resulting in a mishmash of incompatible technologies. Lack of integration can be a real pain in the neck in the long run and could be the biggest hurdle in your organization’s sustainable growth journey. Automation Automating time-consuming and repetitive manual processes lowers costs, improves efficiency, reduces errors, and boosts customer and employee satisfaction. Make sure you don’t get left behind in an age when proactive businesses are automating their systems to achieve sustainable growth. Partner for success If you fail at being a sustainable business, you risk losing your employees and customers alike. It’s time to abandon rapid acceleration in favor of sustainable growth that can help you achieve customer/employee satisfaction and long-term success. A managed service provider (MSP) like us can help you achieve sustainable scalability more seamlessly. Feel free to contact us for a no-obligation consultation on ways to make your company more sustainable.

Although today’s technology-driven era has made information sharing and data access very efficient, it has brought forth a new set of challenges. One of the primary challenges businesses face is the rising threat to data security. However, the threat to business data does not always come from external actors. Worryingly, the greatest threat to business-critical data comes from human elements inside an organization. Since data is the lifeline of most businesses in this digital environment, any compromise can jeopardize operations and bring them to a sudden halt. To avoid this, organizations need to be aware of the threats posed by insiders and implement necessary measures to prevent them. In this blog, we’ll discuss the cybersecurity risks businesses face from insider threats and how you can mitigate them. Actors and motivations behind insider threats There are two main types of actors behind all insider threat incidents — negligent insiders who unwittingly act as pawns to external threats and malicious insiders who become turncloaks for financial gain or revenge. Negligent insiders – These are your regular employees who do their jobs but occasionally fall victim to a scam orchestrated by a cybercriminal. These actors do not have any bad intentions against your company. However, they are still dangerous since they are involved in a large proportion of all insider threat incidents. Negligent insiders contribute to data security breaches by: Clicking on phishing links sent by untrusted sources Downloading attachments sent from suspicious sources Browsing malicious or illegitimate websites using work computers Using weak passwords for their devices Sending misdirected emails to unintended recipients Malicious insiders – These are disgruntled employees who wreak havoc on your data security for financial gain or revenge. Disgruntled employees can manipulate the company’s tools, applications or systems, and while financial gain is the top reason behind most malicious insider actions, it isn’t always the case. Despite being rare in occurrence, these threats often have much more severe consequences since the actors have full access and credentials to compromise your security.   Best ways to prevent insider threats and protect data When a business falls victim to a data security breach, it faces more than just financial repercussions. The organization’s reputation, competitive advantage and intellectual property often suffer following an insider threat incident. Additionally, there are regulations that impose hefty fines on businesses for allowing such a breach to occur. Therefore, you must be proactive when it comes to combating insider threats. Detecting insider threats Certain factors can help you identify insider threats before you experience a full-blown breach: Human behavior: A potential insider with malicious intent against an organization will often exhibit abnormal behavior. For instance, an employee trying to access privileged information and frequently working unusual hours could be red flags to monitor. Digital signs: Before a major breach due to insider threats, you may witness abnormal digital signs like downloading a substantial amount of data, high bandwidth consumption, traffic from unknown sources or unauthorized use of personal storage devices. Defense strategies against insider threats There are a few strategies that you can implement throughout your organization to minimize the possibility of insider threats. Insider threat defense plan: First, you must define what constitutes abnormal behavior in your employees and set up alerts for digital signs in your IT environment. Most importantly, you need to limit access to critical data to only those whose job function requires it, and you must provide unique credentials for them. Data backup: Backups are essential to protect your data in case of an unavoidable loss. With regular backups for your critical data, your business can get back up and running after a security breach involving an insider. Before you back up your data, you should classify the data worth protecting and create a strategy accordingly. Employee training: When properly trained, employees could be your first line of defense against various cyberthreats. Create an organizational-level best practices policy that outlines clear instructions on personal device policies, passwords, remote working, etc. Best ways to prevent insider threats and protect data As the cost of insider threats is expected to rise over the years, having a trusted partner by your side to protect your data can go a long way towards securing your business. With our years of expertise in data security and storage, we can help you incorporate innovative strategies to protect your company. Give us a call today!

As a small business owner, you may think you are “too small” to be the target of cybercrime because you aren’t a large, multimillion-dollar company. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Although the media mainly focuses on attacks on big businesses, small businesses are low-hanging fruit for cybercriminals. Cybercriminals know that small businesses are less likely to have strong security measures in place, making it easier for them to breach their data. In this blog post, you’ll learn the steps you can take to protect your business from the claws of cybercriminals. Follow these cyber incident prevention best practices While there is no single silver bullet for preventing all incidents, there are some best practices that can help you reduce the risk of falling victim to a cyberattack. 1. Ensure your cybersecurity policy supports remote work When implementing a cybersecurity policy supporting remote work, consider the following: How will employees access company resources off-site? What security measures should be put in place to protect company data? How will remote employees collaborate and share data? Additionally, you should identify any support mechanisms to help employees struggling to adjust to remote work. By taking these factors into account, you can create a cybersecurity policy that is productive, seamless and secure. 2. Provide cybersecurity awareness training for employees Implementing a security awareness training program for employees is critical in today’s digital age. As a responsible business executive, you must strive to ensure that the program is comprehensive, engaging and adaptable to new threats. 3. Deploy software patches Threats to your network security are becoming more prevalent as technology advances. That’s why it’s critical to keep your software up to date with the latest security patches. There are two different ways to keep your software up to date. One way is to set your software to update automatically while the other is to manually check for updates on a regular basis. 4. Have active antivirus and antimalware protection There are numerous antivirus and antimalware solutions in the market, so select one that is appropriate for your company. When doing so, you’ll have to consider the size of your company, the type of data you need to safeguard and your budget. Once you’ve decided on a solution, make sure you follow through with it. This includes installing it on all your company’s computers and keeping it updated. 5. Implement multifactor authentication (MFA) Multifactor authentication is a security measure that requires users to provide more than one form of identification when accessing data, thus reducing the chances of unauthorized data access. This can include something that the user knows (like a password), something that the user has (like a security token) or something that the user is (like a fingerprint). 6. Use a virtual private network (VPN) A virtual private network encrypts your company’s data and allows you to control who has access to it. This can help prevent data breaches and keep your company’s information safe. However, make sure to choose a reputable provider that offers robust security features. 7. Deploy single-sign-on (SSO) and password management A single sign-on solution can make your users’ login process easier by allowing them to log in once to a central system and then access all the other applications and systems they require. This can make the login process more efficient for them. In addition to SSO, a password management solution simplifies the user login process by allowing them to manage their passwords more securely and efficiently. 8. Encrypt your data Data encryption is the process of converting information into a code that can only be deciphered by someone who has the key to decrypt it. It is done to prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing the information. Data encryption is a critical tool in cybersecurity since it can help reduce the exposure of your data to risks and ensure compliance with data privacy regulations. 9. Have backup and disaster recovery solutions It is critical to have backup and disaster recovery solutions in place in case of system failure or data loss. Make sure to research the different options and find the best solution for your company. To ensure that your backup and disaster recovery solutions are working correctly, test them on a regular basis. Collaborate for success If you’re a small business owner, you may not have the time or expertise to implement effective cyber incident prevention best practices. However, by partnering with us, you can leverage our experience to build a digital fortress around your business. Contact us today to find out how we can help you protect your business against potential cyberthreats.