Cybersecurity Steps for Businesses
Is your business prepared for a cyberattack?
Imagine arriving at work to find your systems locked, files compromised and no email access. Could your business keep operating? For many organisations, the answer is “no”.
A cyberattack can leave your company vulnerable. It often involves data breaches affecting customer data and financial information. Without a business continuity plan, it can be hard to keep operating. It’s an uncomfortable thought and one that business owners need to face.
612,000 UK businesses experienced a cyberattack in the last 12 months, representing 43% of UK businesses. The harsh reality is that cyberattacks are likely to target your company at some point. No one knows what will happen in the future, but we can make plans to reduce the risk.
How does your business work?
A good cybersecurity plan begins with a detailed understanding of your business operations. Important questions to consider include:
- Which operations are critical?
- Which systems do they depend on?
- What information needs to be available for your employees to do their jobs?
- What would happen if those systems disappeared for an hour, a day or a week?
‘It’s important to think beyond your obvious IT systems,’ says Eric Hughes, founder of EMH Technology in Hitchin. ‘Your operations might depend on cloud applications, customer databases, online banking and bookkeeping, email, online ordering, communications platforms or specialist applications. It’s amazing how many systems and software packages you rely on!
‘It’s also important to increase your teams’ security awareness. Cyber Essentials accreditation and training is available to all companies and offers a strong foundation.’
Your next step is to identify which systems – and any platforms they rely on to operate – underpin critical business functions and should be prioritised. (National Cyber Security Centre)
Cybersecurity: an integral part of your IT governance
A proactive, preventative cybersecurity policy is a vital part of your business’s IT governance. It’s important to consider how your people and processes are involved.
People-based cybersecurity steps:
- MFA: Use multi-factor authentication to make compromised passwords much harder for attackers to exploit.
- Access control: Limit access to sensitive systems and information according to people’s roles.
- Alternative communication: Have a trusted way to communicate if email or other normal channels are compromised.
Incident response: Know exactly who does what when an attack happens, making sure your IT provider is involved in the planning.- Employee training: Most cybersecurity mistakes involve human error. Cybersecurity training addresses employees’ knowledge gaps and helps alleviate threats.
System-based cybersecurity steps:
- Security monitoring: Identify suspicious activity as early as possible (e.g. by implementing identity threat detection and response steps).
- Patching: Keep operating systems, applications and devices updated to reduce exploitable vulnerabilities.
- Backups: Maintain reliable, protected backups and regularly test that you can restore them. The National Cyber Security Centre recommends considering offline or segregated backups to reduce the risk of an attack compromising them too.
Yes, cybersecurity deters cyberattacks. However, it also involves proactive security measures designed to keep your business running as smoothly as possible should an attack occur, minimising downtime.
Planning ahead for cybersecurity
Proactive cybersecurity optimises your business resilience and ensures that people, processes and technology are ready to respond to cyberattacks.
Assuming an attack will happen, rather than hoping it won’t, ensures you plan accordingly and provide optimum protection for your business operations.
Is your organisation adequately protected against cyberattacks?
Have confidence in your cybersecurity procedures. Talk to the expert team at EMH Technology. Enjoy an initial discussion without obligation or jargon. What potential exists for your organisation?