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Productivity is the key to business success. That’s why it’s essential that you do whatever you can to increase your business productivity.
To do that, you can implement email marketing, conduct ad campaigns, execute social media marketing, improve employee skills, and so on.
But have you considered that by improving your cybersecurity, you can enhance business productivity?
According to statistics, over 60% of small businesses go out of business within six months after a cyber-attack takes place. And 43% of all data breaches target small and medium businesses.
No wonder shoppers are reluctant to give out their personal information online.
One of the biggest reasons why people are reluctant to shop from online stores is because of security reasons.
As a business, you can fix this issue by improving your online security and drive sales.
Here are effective ten cybersecurity tips your business can start implementing today for increased productivity.
Implement a two-factor authentication process
Use the security tools available to protect your business’s information. By implementing two-factor authentication, you can increase the security of your login credentials.
Since users will have to utilize another login step, apart from their user name and password, before accessing their account, it can secure their data from hackers and reduce the impact of stolen credentials.
For instance, your employee can be made to insert a secret code sent via email or as a text message. It makes it harder for an attacker to access your account.
A report revealed that it took only 12 data breaches to expose in excess of 100 million sensitive records in 2018. Ensure that you don’t break the trust of your followers by offering them safety.
Limit data access
As per a global study that surveyed 130 organizations, 88% of the companies with over 1,000,000 folders don’t have appropriate access limitations.
It is not feasible to monitor each employee’s cyber interactions. But you can set up policies and offer guidelines on how employees should protect their identity and other sensitive data. It includes limiting access to select information.
Use SSL Certificate to protect your data
Since an SSL certificate can encrypt information and offer trust indicators like the green bar, secured padlock, and trust seals, consumers are more likely to shop from your website.
Select among different SSL certificates is quite confusing. For example, if you are a business that carries an unlimited number of subdomains to invest in high-end SSLs, you can still go for a cheap wildcard SSL certificate. It will still offer the same high level of security across all your subdomains at a lower cost.
Use VPN
If you have employees working from home, a VPN can allow your employees to safely access your company resources.
Moreover, your clients or investors can access internet files and documents securely. You can also avoid legal and privacy issues that frequently crop up when transferring files via email.
Install a firewall
By installing a firewall, you can restrict unwanted users and block malware and viruses from causing injury to your systems.
It will also protect your business data from unauthorized access. Make sure to keep your firewall running at all times, even when you are not using your computer.
Utilize best password practices
The number of data breaches keeps increasing. And it is estimated that 80% of them are linked to passwords.
Ensure that you create strong passwords that cannot be easily decoded and ask your employees to do the same.
Use a password manager tool to manage your passwords and reduce the risk of a data breach.
Update all software
According to a report, 90% of organizations reported exploits against vulnerabilities that were three or more years old.
By using outdated OS and software, you develop a high risk of being targeted by hackers.
Criminals are always looking for vulnerabilities in the software that they are using. And once they hack it, it could pave the way into your Windows network. Ensure to update your software as soon as an update is available.
Backup all your data
Data backups are crucial. Even if an attack is successful, you can still recover the files from your backup.
Make sure that you backup your data in a different location where hackers can’t gain access. Also, remember to back up your data regularly. The best way is to implement automatic backup.
Have an incident response strategy
To stay ahead of an attack, it is crucial for your business to have an incident response strategy. Even when you have implemented every possible measure to protect your data, you can’t be sure that you are 100% safe.
Be on the safe side by having a plan in case you fall victim to a cyberattack. It will ensure that you respond quickly to an attack and prevent attackers from getting hold of sensitive information. It can also alert the press or customers in case the attack is bigger than what you anticipated.
Make sure that there is a cybersecurity specialist to handle the response plan.
Educate your employees about cyber threats
According to a survey report by GetApp, 43% of employees are not given regular data security training, while 8% have not received any training at all.
In another study, it was revealed that 75% of employees lack security awareness.
This lack of cybersecurity knowledge can lead your employees to give out details of your company to hackers unsuspectingly.
Hackers are notorious for using social engineering to manipulate employees into divulging secret information. Unless you educate them, your company’s data security is at high risk.
Wrapping Up
These ten cybersecurity tips can help to enhance your business productivity.
As you can see, your online security is directly linked to your business growth. By tightening your security, you can gain customer trust and improve your company’s reputation. You can also save the potential cost that a data breach may incur if your security is loose.
Exercise security best practices like implementing two-factor authentication, limiting data access, installing SSL, and making your employees aware of the cybersecurity threats that your company is facing. It will help your business to boom.