Mastercard Caribbean published an article on January 13, 2020, authored by RGX Online about Improving Your Business Cybersecurity.
Small business, in many cases, is not fortified to fend off the rising number of cyber-attacks targeting them due to their economic importance. So, small businesses must be aware of the necessary security measures to defend themselves.
Key points:
- Take an inventory of all devices applications so you can take steps to secure them. Keep this list updated as you add or remove devices and applications.
- Keeping your systems updated boosts your digital immunity against threats. This includes reviewing each device and application inventory list and ensuring that they are configured for automatic updates as well as adhering to the recommended security configurations. Checking instructions or support pages for any device or application that needs to be adjusted. Take this step every time you add a new device or application to your business. For websites that are frequently used, periodic scans should be carried to ensure authenticity.
- For websites that require passwords, the use of strong passwords is critical. To better keep information, secure strong passwords should consist of upper and lowers case letter special characters and numbers.
- Every year, many small businesses fall victim to costly malware and phishing attacks, which can be difficult to survive. Employing the use of tools that help prevent these types of attacks, including DNS security, anti-virus software, and ad blockers is an important security measure.
- Brand protection is a next step in fortifying your business. An email standard known as DMARC is an effective way to stop spammers and phishers from using company domains to carry out dangerous cyber-attacks and may be helpful to see who is trying to impersonate you. Using trademark monitoring tools will give you visibility into whether your business’ name or brand is being misused.
- Small businesses have become prime targets for ransomware attacks. To help defend against such attacks is backing up information frequently to an off-site storage location such as the cloud is highly recommended.
- A free online toolkit developed by the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) for small businesses includes a set of tools, reference materials and videos to assist businesses with a myriad of cyber threats.
Reference: mastercardbiz.com
Contributed by: Kyle Sterling from Jamaica. Kyle is a member of the CCST Discord group from the G5 Cyber Security Foundation Ltd. Learn more about CCST (Caribbean Cyber Support Team) by visiting caribbeancst.org. CCST is a collaborative group on the Discord platform for Caribbean people in IT, from beginners to experts.