How is your company’s cybersecurity attention?

If you’ve taken the time to think about this answer, the situation is possibly quite critical—and you may not even be aware of this problem. But this case, although worrying, does not generate surprise, as companies, normally, do not invest in this very important area.

And who reinforces this behavior is a recent study by UK government. In this survey, it was found that four in ten businesses (39%) and a quarter of charities (26%) report having cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months.

With this in mind — and seeking to raise awareness among managers and leaders — we created a super complete article to talk about cybersecurity for companies. Find out what the concept is, what the risks of not taking care of your data are, plus 5 tips to improve information security in your business.

Good reading!

What is cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity is the set of techniques and processes to protect information on computers, servers and any other electronic device that stores personal or professional data.

In the case of cybersecurity for companies, the premise is to prevent unauthorized people from gaining access to business information. This includes employee data or sensitive information that could make the company vulnerable.

Therefore, as we can see, it is essential that any company invest in data security in order not to have their important information accessed by malicious users who are possibly looking for an advantage.

Source: Cybersecurity vs. Information Security

What are the risks and consequences that companies need to avoid?

When a company neglects the data security process, it is putting a lot at risk. Initially, the company’s reputation is negatively affected, as customers will be insecure with an eventual compromise of the data that becomes public.

Then there is the risk of compromised employee information, which could result in personal attacks, blackmail, or social engineering strategies to gain access to vulnerable areas of the company.

Another worrying consequence is the leakage of sensitive information that could reveal a project under development to the competition and, consequently, a serious public exposure that could directly affect the business’ revenues.

Finally, we have financial losses that directly affect the company’s cash and put it in a fragile position. Depending on the level of the attack, the company could bear multi-million losses that would eventually compromise its commercial future.

5 Cybersecurity Tips for Businesses

So, to prevent cybersecurity for companies from being a big headache, we have separated 5 fundamental tips to take better care of this issue. Keep reading to get to know them:

1. Invest in secure access control

Every business system needs, somehow, to have secure access control that makes it difficult for malicious people to attack. For this, logins with unique and personalized credentials are a great data security feature.

In addition, features such as two-step authentication will make any successful attack impossible, as the extra layer of protection virtually makes any unauthorized access impossible.

Souce: Why Authentication alone is not enough for Web App Security?

2. Have a system developed with a quality code

Another important point, when we talk about cybersecurity for companies, is the quality of the systems code. Software that uses good development practices tends to be more secure and, in general, avoids any exposure to risk.

So, in that case, make sure that your company produces secure code and that you bet on the best practices in the market. The same goes for contracted systems, which need to be guaranteed that they are prepared to avoid undue exposure of data.

Also read: Solution Factories: learn how a software company works

3. Make regular backups

Regular backups are also a great cybersecurity practice for companies — and believe me, many IT teams don’t even bet on this feature.

So, by adopting regular backups, any situation that causes data to be erased, for example, will not be a big problem, since the backup will be able to recover the information in a complete way.

The situation is still worrisome, but copying the data will make everything a mere headache.

Source: MedStack Control Backup System

4. Educate employees

Another important point in the process of becoming more protected against attacks and data loss also involves constant employee education. All company employees need to know the best practices so as not to leave their access data, for example, in the hands of third parties.

Even though the systems are secure and leave no loopholes, some social engineering techniques are powerful for getting critical information. Whether it’s a login and password for a software, or even sensitive information about events in the company, all employees need to learn to avoid risky situations.

Therefore, invest in recurring training to increase company data security as well as awareness of hazards.

5. Use an up-to-date antivirus

Finally, a recommendation widely repeated over the years, but which unfortunately is still a neglected situation: the use of an always up to date antivirus to protect against attacks and, of course, against malicious files that infect the device.

And this practice applies to computers, tablets, and smartphones. Any device that can have an antivirus will be better protected against malicious actions. Therefore, the IT team needs to act on this point and, in the same way, raise awareness among all employees.

Data security is serious business

As we could see throughout the content, data security is a serious matter and needs to be monitored daily in any company. Whether you are a startup or a consolidated organization, mitigating any data risk is essential.

So, consider the information we’ve brought along this content to make cybersecurity for companies a recurring theme in your routine. Protect data, educate employees, and avoid losing money from attacks on company systems.