In 2021, the average cost of a single cyber security breach for UK businesses was just over two and a half thousand pounds. This increased with the size of each business affected but, crucially, does not cover the costs of recovery, downtime, and crisis control undertaken due to the breach. It is these costs, in addition to the pressure placed upon small business owners that can be the most damaging for SMES. As a result, working proactively to improve cyber security can be a huge time and money saving exercise for small businesses.
First, make sure that you’ve got the basic protocols covered. You need to know how your data is protected so that you can implement procedures to ensure continuity across different devices or areas of the business. One of the most basic and important steps when first improving your cyber security is to identify your vulnerabilities. Whether you run drills to identify weaknesses in your system or spot check employees’ knowledge of security protocols, identifying such problems will go a very long way to protecting your business from a real cyber-attack.
Following on from identifying vulnerabilities or blind spots, a key step is to implement company-wide protocols to protect the cyber security of your business. Even if you already have some form of company protocol, hopefully having tested your procedures will have shown you ways to strengthen your defences against cyber-attack, be that further company training in cyber security or to dedicate more resources to solutions such as MFA, something you can read more about here.
One step that a SME can take is to establish access levels to data held within the company system. Especially given the flexible nature of team sizing and operations in small businesses, access levels are often something that appear at odds with day-to-day operations and team structure. However, limiting the access of certain employees or teams within a business can be a concrete way to limit the risk of cyber-attack through malware or phishing, for example, despite the more linear team structure that it may encourage.
A large part of cyber defence can be something as basic as company culture. Encouraging a digital-focused culture can be a simple way to protect a SME from cycber attack, as well as encouraging a forward-looking approach with regards to digital innovation. Training staff to spot red threats or red flags as part of this culture can be the difference between being open to fraudulent phishing attacks, for example, and being secure in the knowledge of your security protocols. Part of these protocols could be limiting the use of personal devices for business use, using strong authentication and passwords, and purchasing similar web domains to prevent convincing fraudulent cyber attacks. If you’re interested in finding out more about these different steps, you can read about them here.
However, in the event that your business does experience a cyber-attack, it’s crucial that you have a recovery plan in place to reduce the impact that such events can have. An efficient recovery procedure can be the difference between a set-back to the business and the often business-threatening costs in time, money, and pressure that the after attacks of a cyber-attack can have. Part of this recovery plan may be to have a centralised and well-advertised contact for advice or recovery that employees can access easily – if advice is clearly available in a centralised location, then your recovery or preventative protocols can be easily accessed and used.
How can we help?
Corona IT Solutions have a team of experienced individuals who can help you identify weaknesses in your cyber defences and can work with you to achieve tailored security solutions to each vulnerability. If you’d like to discuss what this may look like and how it could help your business, our team are available to chat here. If you’d like to read more about some of the issues and solutions discussed in this blog, the Corona IT blog is available to read here.
