Entrepreneurship runs strong in the U.S. Partially driven by the pandemic, 2021 alone saw the founding of more than 5 million new businesses. Of course, the burst of entrepreneurial spirit also created millions of business owners with minimal IT security experience.
That's a serious problem for both the business owners and their customers. Small businesses are the target of cyber attacks approximately 36 percent of the time. While there are a lot more small businesses than big businesses out there, it's a meaningful risk.
If you're worried that your cybersecurity isn't up to the challenge, keep reading for three IT security services your business needs.
The human element is often the single biggest risk to your cybersecurity. There is a whole branch of cybercrime that revolves around social engineering scams designed to compromise your security.
Yet, one of the most common errors that small businesses make is a lack of cybersecurity training. Your employees can't avoid risks they don't know about or cannot recognize.
Complicating the issue is that it's not the kind of training that every or even most managers or business owners can handle. You can't train people on things you don't understand well.
Many IT security companies offer cybersecurity training for business employees as one of their IT security solutions.
Another area where small businesses often misstep in IT cyber security is with their security software. Some small businesses don't have any kind of security software, even a basic antivirus package. Among those that do have the software, many don't allow automatic updates of the software. For real security, though, you need more than one kind of security software. Some critical areas where software is a must include:
Advanced EDR Anti-Virus (Endpoint Detection and Response)
Firewalls
Network monitoring
Intrusion prevention
Many small businesses choose to outsource this to IT security companies that offer managed cybersecurity services.
Watch Our Video: Typical Cybersecurity Mistakes
It's been a near-constant refrain among cybersecurity experts for years now that businesses must back up their data. The substantial increase in ransomware attacks in recent years just highlights this necessity.
If you back up your data, you can effectively nuke your current installation, install fresh versions, and download your data from the backups. Hopefully, you'll also upgrade your security software to limit the potential of future ransomware attacks.
The good news is that you can set up data backups with cloud services or through IT security companies. Most of them even let you automate the backup process.
Given that small businesses are a common target for cyber attacks, small business owners must take IT security seriously. Unfortunately, many small businesses don't even take basic precautions. You can get proactive with your cybersecurity with some IT services. Start with cybersecurity training to help close the loop on human error.
Get serious about your security software with services that focus on network security, firewalls, and antivirus protection. Get data backups in place. Envision IT Services offers business IT security solutions. For questions or more information, contact Envision IT services today.
