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“The risk of fraud and online crime, both real and perceived, is costing each UK small business up to £4,000 per year” UK’s Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)
Data and online security is now a major worldwide talking-point; and businesses of all sizes are frantically trying to ensure they are protected from cyber attacks, security breaches and data loss.
According to the World Economic Forum, if attacker sophistication continues to outpace defender capabilities (resulting in more destructive attacks), a wave of new regulations and corporate policies could slow innovation, with an aggregate impact of approximately US$ 3 trillion by 2020.
One of the biggest consequences of a security breach is that your brand reputation may be damaged beyond repair, therefore costing your business customer lifetime value and future revenue.
What to look out for…
When businesses consider their IT and data security, they typical think of protection against unauthorised external users (such as hackers); but this is not the only danger. There are, in fact, five key areas which could result in a security breach or loss of data in your organisation (and only two are from external sources):
- Systems failure or data corruption
- Infection by viruses or malicious software
- Theft or fraud involving computers
- Other incidents caused by staff
- Attacks by unauthorised outsiders (including hackers)
As you can see, while protecting your organisation from external threats, you also need to invest time and budget protecting your systems, networks and data from internal threats too.
So what should you do?
Similarly to your PC or laptop at home, there are multiple options for protecting corporate computers. These include…
- Installing firewall, spyware and anti-virus software on all computers
- Allowing all operating systems to receive automatic updates
- Using patches or security updates to cover vulnerabilities
- Limiting employee internet access to only the sites they need to complete their job
- Advising employees not to share their passwords
These are essential solutions but there are many more ways to protect your systems, networks and data. Comprehensively protecting your organisation will require investment in new equipment (ideally, the most innovative on the market). Some businesses may feel that their budgets are better spent elsewhere; however it’s worth noting that…
“93% of large organisations and 87% of small businesses had a security breach in the last year” – PwC Cyber Security Report
With such a high chance of a security breach; it’s important that you secure your business in the best way possible. To find out more about IT security, the best solutions and how you can cost-effectively protect your business…
Check out our latest ebook: The scale and associated costs of IT security and compliance
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