6 Tips to Protect your Business from a Cyberattack

As the threat of a cyberattack continues to be a growing concern for many business owners, now more than ever it’s important to have a plan in place to mitigate the risks of an attack and protect your business and customers.

Here are 6 tips to help cyber secure your business:

1. Educate your employees
   • Create security practices for your employees, such as requiring strong passwords and 2-factor authentication. To protect your customers, establish rules on how you and your employees will safeguard their data and sensitive information. Everyone has a role to play when it comes to cybersecurity. Your business is only as strong as your weakest link. By educating your employees and having a strong security system, you can help mitigate the risk of a cyber attack.
2. Limit employee access depending on job duties
   • Employees should only be given access to the data relevant to their job duties. Keep a list of who has access to which data and be sure to update this list as job duties change.
3. Keep a clean computer
   • To help limit exposure to malware, restrict employees’ ability to download and run software on network computers. At Colony Bank, we take an extra step to help keep our business customers safe by asking that they keep a separate computer for banking needs only. This helps to eliminate email hacks and web surfing which could lead to a cyber attack.
4. Protect business computers and networks
   • Most updates for devices and software include security enhancements. Make sure your computer operating system, web browser, and applications are set to be automatically updated. Equip all business computers with antivirus software and antispyware.
5. Backup data
   • For all critical information, have a data backup and recovery plan in place. Regularly backup the data on all computers, and if possible, use automatic backup. Store this data in a separate device or offline so that you can access it in the event of a malware attack.
6. Don’t click on suspicious links or files
   • The golden rule for cyber security: when in doubt, throw it out. If you or an employee sees a suspicious link in a text message, email, social media, or online ads, don’t click the link!

Protecting your business from scams is an ongoing process that requires education, caution, and vigilance. By taking these steps, you can minimize the risk of financial harm.

At Colony Bank, we offer several fraud protection tools. To learn more, talk to one of our local bankers about how we can help.