In Episode 7 of the Wired 2 Change Podcast Mike & Trinity discuss how to keep you and your clients safe in our virtual landscape and warn you of the FIVE missteps many small business owners make. Why DO small business owners leave themselves wide open for cyber hacks? First, we both can agree upon is that most small business owners don’t have a PLAN. Second, is that they don’t know what to check or how to check it to be sure they are secure. As SBO’s many of us just don’t THINK of cybersecurity first. Especially when you’re starting out there’s no money in the bank, you have multiple demands on your time and attention and Cybersecurity is usually the last thing on your plan. Our third of the five fails is that people don’t protect all of their devices. So it’s not just your laptop anymore! It’s also your cell phone, it’s your smartwatch and it’s anything that you’re storing in the cloud. Anything that’s password-protected, all of your devices need to be protected, with automation and technology growing each day. Our fourth fail is don’t forget your team didn’t mean to do it. Often our employees inadvertently will click open an email or a link and let those cyber attackers RIGHT INSIDE. Train your staff to be vigilant and know what to look out for. Your team opens emails and documents and non-safe links on their personal or work devices. Teach them what to look for, what is suspicious vs what isn’t and if they are unsure then ask. Also, take time with your clients to teach them that as well, it will be a helpful tip for them and they will trust you more. Last but not least on our list is our fifth and Mike’s favorite. Business owners who think “I am too small to be hacked.” You are never too small, hackers want the big million dollar targets but they will also take a whole bunch of $1,000 targets at a time to make the money they need. As a business owner, you must constantly and consistently be thinking of how to best protect your company.
Did you know? With a $300 graphics card, a hacker can run 420 billion simple, lowercase eight-character password combinations a minute. 80% of cyber-attacks involve weak passwords. 55% of people use one password for all logins. The most common password is “password” and the second is “1 2 3 4 5”.
Tips from the Pro AMNON NISSAN of Nissan Communications Network
1. Do UpToDate virus and malware scans.
2. Enforce strict rules as to what is and what is not okay to be playing with on the internet….this is also known as the employee internet usage policy.
3. Make employees aware of the pitfalls of opening attachments from unknown sources and clicking on links.
4. Back your stuff up, because if it’s not backed up and they come after you, you’re screwed.
Look at LastPass, or Dash Lane as a way to help protect your passwords
We are huge fans of Lastpass for protecting your passwords.