Technology Risks For SMEs
Posted on 22nd June 2021
Many SMEs do not have a technology company or support person who they can call upon for help or who can handle all of their security updates in the background. With the rise in working from home set to continue, these are our pointers for ensuring that your business is secure and protected to the maximum.
Reduced costs associated with your employees working from home mean that if you do not have all of the following in place, you may want to invest in doing so.
If you are a novice with technology and want to learn then you may want to look at the government backed Cyber Essentials scheme. This certified course has two levels and you can work towards passing and gaining much more knowledge that you can take with you for years to come.
Backing up your data is essential as all businesses have databases and records that they could not do without. Cloud storage is economical and can include daily or more frequent back ups automatically. Data is secure both in transit and when in storage.
As well as computers, if your staff are using mobile devices on the go, then you need to plan to protect the data that is on there. As well as security updates, you need to be able to wipe the device should it get lost and fall into the wrong hands.
Email phishing scams continue to increase and with people working at home, it is important to ensure that the emails are caught or that your staff know what to look out for. Never transfer money on the say so of a time pressured email. It is worth investing in filters and training to stop your company from falling victim to these types of scams.
It is advisable to secure home router/Wi-Fi networks by changing the password from the default or having staff work via VPN networks. This is to combat hacking which is more likely to take place through an unsecured network.
In an ideal world, your employees should be using a company device with anti-virus software installed. If not then it would be worth looking at getting this changed. If you have employees working from their own devices then you can suggest that they use a separate profile for work and that anti-virus software is installed and running.
We hope that you have enjoyed this SME update, feel free to share it with any business networks in the Ipswich area where other business owners would benefit from the information.
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