Keeping Your Information Safe With These Cyber Security Pointers

For many small business owners, their company means everything to them, and it might even be all that they have. So, it would only make sense to protect such an important business, the sole income of many entrepreneurs. After working day in and day out for months to years on end, you certainly wouldn’t want all of your hard work to go to waste due to a cyber attack or some sort of security compromise, right? Well, the small business lending experts here at The Commercial Finance Group are back at it again with some more advice on how to run your business to the very best of your ability.

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Now, given the popularity of online businesses, let’s take a careful look at some cyber security tips in hopes of protecting your company that you’ve worked so hard to build.

Consider Your Password And Login Credentials

Your accounts must be secure, and that goes well beyond your website. If you’ve recently purchased a new computer or installed a new software, make sure to change default passwords and accounts names. It might sound rather obvious, but installing a machine or software out of the box without reconfiguring it for security purposes is actually one of the most common security mistakes that online businesses make. Fortunately, this mistake is also easily corrected. Failing to make these password and account credentials, however, will make it simple for hackers to gain access since they know or can determine what these original settings are.

Encryption Software For Payments

If you sell products online – as most online businesses do – you’ll definitely want to use encryption software to protect customers’ financial information from theft during transactions. Transactions giants like Visa USA or MasterCard International Inc. require that most businesses operating online verifying that they have taken a number of steps (including data encryption) to protect customers who use their credit cards. So, as long as you meet these requirements, your online operation is likely to be fairly secure.

Now, complying with these payment encryption standards has proven to be challenging for small businesses in the past, as many companies just don’t have the resources or the security expertise that larger companies do. So, depending on the size and scale of your business, it might be worth considering outsourcing your payment processing to a company like PayPal.

Limit Access To Sensitive Information

We can’t stress this pointer enough. Access to sensitive information should only remain in the hands who need to use it or see it. Special software on the market can detect unusual patterns of activity in a company’s computer system, and there’s also software that can monitor outbound communications to make sure that certain information is not leaking out. Businesses whose employees need remote access to the company’s computer system might require more than just a username and a password to gain access.

Personal And Mobile Devices

Smartphones and other mobile devices are incredibly convenient tools, but they actually represent potential compromises to your cyber security, believe it or not. It is true that private phones are more vulnerable to a “hacker attack” than devices that are connected to a company network. A number of companies have actually introduced relatively inexpensive mobile software that encrypts email traffic or monitors phones for suspicious activity. Now, these threats have been rather minimal and more of an annoyance if anything, but this is an area of cyber security to keep an eye on.

Backup Your Data

In the unfortunate event of an attack, backing up your business’s data and website can help you recover what you’ve lost. Really, it is essential that you regularly pack up your important data and information from things like various financial records and business plans all the way to customer records and personal information. Doing so will mitigate any damage caused in the event of a security breach or computer problem. Plus, backing up your data is generally cost-effective, relatively easy, and will provide you with a priceless peace of mind as you go to bed every night.

A good backup system typically includes daily incremental backups to a portable device or cloud storage device, end-of-week server backups, quarterly server backups, and yearly server backups. Over time, you’ll want to make it a habit to backup your data to an external hard drive or a simple, portable device like a USB stick. Also, make sure to store portable devices separately offsite and do not leave them connected to your computer as they can also be infected from a cyber attack. Finally, regularly check and test that you can retrieve your data from your backup source.

Stay Safe And Financially Secure With Our Burbank Invoice Factoring Company

We’re no cyber security experts here at The Commercial Finance Group, but we are small business lending experts. If you need a fast loan with bad credit, need a business loan, or you just need help financing a small business, our invoice factoring services are the solution. Learn more!