Where should small businesses begin with cybersecurity?

People are often the point of entry for cyberattacks, so it’s imperative employees are trained on good cyber hygiene practices to avoid creating a point of weakness in your business. (Credit: Mathias Rosenthal/Fotolia)

In today’s hyper-cyber world, no business is too small to be concerned about cybersecurity. In the past year, 42% of small businesses claim to have experienced a cyberattack, according to a recent report from AdvisorSmith. These attacks included a mixture of phishing, malware, data breaches, denial-of-service and ransomware.

It can be difficult for smaller business owners, who may not already have cybersecurity strategies in place, to even know where to start protecting themselves. RIMS, the risk management society, recently released a report detailing the process small and medium businesses (SMBs) can use to safeguard against bad actors.

Identify important information

The motivation for cybercriminals isn’t always to obtain information they can profit from, but often they target information that is valuable to the business they are attacking. The first step to creating a cybersecurity plan, RIMS suggests, is to identify information within your company that may be attractive to bad actors. This includes customer and employee data (Social Security numbers, medical data, contact information, financial information, etc.) as well as company data (billing information, product specifications, operational information, etc.) that is imperative for your business to operate.

Look at possible worst-case scenarios

Playing the “what-if” game may sound like a recipe for anxiety, but it is necessary to consider all possible scenarios in order to defend against them. Examples of questions RIMS suggests you explore include: