With cyber crime an ever-present reality for businesses these days, it’s never been more important to make sure that your online presence is properly protected, using as many tools and resources as you can in order to achieve this.
New research from Merchant Machine shows, perhaps unsurprisingly, that the bigger the company the greater the risk of being targeted, with businesses with more than 50 employees facing the biggest threat of fraud.
The public sector was found to be the most at risk of all industries, with more than 22,000 incidents in the last 12 months. Interestingly, the property sector appeared to be one of the worst affected – although there were only 368 incidents it saw nearly the same number of breaches at 338… so those in this industry should perhaps be particularly on their guard.
So what can you do to really protect your company? You’ll never be able to guarantee that your networks are entirely safe as cyber criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated these days, but there are sure to be holes in your defences right now… so here are a few tips to help you maximise security online now and well into the future.
Look into VPN
Virtual private networks (VPN) are a highly effective method of protecting yourself against a digital attack. They make use of third party networks, enabling you to filter web traffic and encrypting your data through servers found all over the world. This means that the data you send is locked up safe and makes it incredibly difficult to trace your identity online.
Because your identity is anonymous, criminals will struggle to target your networks. Those of you who use public WiFi on your devices are automatically more at risk than otherwise, but making use of VPNs offers an extra level of much-needed protection.
Clean your act up
It’s vital that you keep on top of your security software updates and always install these when prompted and as soon as they’re available. If you don’t, criminals may well be able to exploit known vulnerabilities and you could find yourself in a bit of a pickle.
Review your online policies
If you don’t have a digital policy at work, you need to have one – regardless of the size of your company. Include which applications can be used on company PCs and which are prohibited, making strong passwords a requirement.
Make a decision regarding email encryption, train employees properly about internal and external email communications, and have a go-to person appointed who staff members can reach out to if they have any questions about security.
Do you think you need help with test process improvement at the moment? Get in touch with us today to see what we can do for you and your business.
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