Did you know businesses employing less than 100 people are 350% more likely to experience a sophisticated cyber attack? Could your business survive an attack? Keep in mind, it’s not only your finances that take a hit when you encounter a data breach. Your company also experiences losses that hurt customer loyalty like: 

• Trust
• Reputation
• Credibility
• Competitive Edge

Why Small Businesses are Prime Targets
Compared to larger corporations with dedicated IT positions, many smaller businesses operate on tight budgets, which translates to spending less on cybersecurity.
To prevent gaps, incorporate your entire team with a few key steps. These behavior-based tips can serve as an extra line of defense when Mike from IT is out and Janet from HR is now your #2 tech person of the day.

Tip #1 - Least Privilege Access
While you don’t want to spend the day playing Mother May I with your employees, you can’t give away the keys to the whole castle either. Set up your software systems with least privilege access. This means that each employee has only the permissions needed to do their job.

If everyone in the company shares the same level of access to information, one compromised set of credentials would disrupt the whole system. When minimizing the effects of a data breach, the least privilege access approach has the greatest potential to contain damage.

Tip #2- Educate & Protect Against Ransomware
Ransomware is exactly as it sounds. It’s malicious software that infects, encrypts, and holds your company’s data hostage, and it’s often accompanied by a threat of information leak. Beyond forking over a ransom, this type of data breach gets costly, with an estimated average downtime of three and a half weeks.

Malware is also evolving. With the rise of remote work, many companies are leaving online doors wide open for hackers. Educate employees and employ a strong security management team to avoid disruptions.

Tip #3 - Understand the Importance of Passwords
Just the mention of passwords can cause heaving sighs and deep groans. Everything needs one, they all need to be different, and no–it can’t be your favorite sports team. Why does this dead horse keep getting beaten?

Weak passwords have always been subject to brute force attacks; however, with the adaptation of the internet and the development of deep-learning artificial intelligence, now nearly 90% of all passwords can be cracked!

Let that fear motivate you to create strong, 16-character passwords utilizing a mixture of upper and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers. You can use a password manager such as 1Password or LastPass to help you securely store your different (yes-they need to be different) passwords for various applications, websites, and databases.

Tip #4 - Enable Multi-Factor Authentication
Even with a robust password in place, bad actors can still gain access if all that stands between them and your data is one piece of information. That’s why multi-factor authentication is strongly recommended. Authenticating your credentials in more than one way can look like any combination of more than one of the following pieces of information:

• Personal Information (password or pin)
• Personal Possession (identifying token or device)
• Personal Sample (biometric authentication)

Artificial intelligence and machine learning aren’t going to slow down, and cyber threats aren’t going to decrease. As the internet of things becomes more intricately woven, it’s imperative to utilize multi-factor authentication when available, given that 99.9% of breaches happen on accounts lacking more than one authenticator.

Increasing Protection, Defending Reputation
After you’ve poured your heart and soul into the success of your business, a data breach would do more than destroy the moment. When it comes to internet security, smaller businesses present the biggest opportunity for cybercriminals. They might score less, but they can access the data easier and often go undetected.

According to a CNBC story, 43% of all cyber threats target small businesses, and nearly half of them will experience a breach costing roughly $200K. Beyond the lost revenue and legal obligations, many small businesses can’t recover their damaged reputation or regain the trust of previously loyal customers.

Don’t lose heart; increase protection instead. Educate your employees, insist on solid passwords, and keep software updated. If you’re only as strong as your weakest link–then security is an all-level employee issue.

Beef Up Cybersecurity with Help from Apollo IT Services
If this sounds like a threat beyond your scope of defense, the best solution is a dedicated security partner. Apollo IT Services proactively protects your systems, networks, and data from a rapidly evolving cyber threat. We defend more than your security; we maintain the integrity of your reputation!

Whether you need an end-to-end IT and cybersecurity solution or your existing team just needs a little support, Apollo IT Services can help. We specialize in outsourced cybersecurity and managed IT services for businesses of all sizes. Give us a call today for a free, no-obligation chat to learn more about what we can do for you.