Why Small Business Shouldn’t Ignore Cyber Crime

With businesses relying more and more on technology to drive business success how well are small businesses protected from cyber crime?  Just because a business is small doesn’t mean cyber criminals won’t think it worthwhile to target your business.

If we assume that generally small businesses are not well protected and cyber criminals don’t discriminate between sizes of businesses, how then can we protect our business from cyber crime?

The first thing all businesses should do is review their business insurance and check whether they have cyber insurance.  If you don’t have the insurance then contact your insurance broker and discuss the type of cover that would adequately protect your business as not all policies are the same.

The second step should be to contact your IT specialist and have your IT systems checked to determine the level of protection your business has against a cyber attack.  The process should include the development an IT strategy to prevent an attack and at the same time a strategy to deal with a breach should it occur.

Some things to consider as part of these strategies include ensuring:

• you have adequate cyber insurance,
• you back up your systems on a regular basis,
• your systems are appropriately password protected,
• you have a process in place to recover data should it be lost or compromised, 
• that you understand what your obligations at law are if client information is breached, and
• you have sufficient training for staff in what they should do to both prevent and respond to  a breach.

The above is not intended as a complete list to ensure your business is protected but hopefully it will give you some food for thought that you can have a meaningful discussion with your IT provider about the level and type of protection your business needs.

And don’t forget to talk to your insurance broker about cyber insurance!!!

If you want to talk more about your business and how I can help, please contact me on 07 32644783.