While the internet and online space may be a great thing, there are certainly downsides to it as well. One major downside is that you’re never truly safe online since there are often hackers just waiting for you to make the wrong move.
This is terrifying enough when you’re simply browsing the internet, but for businesses, the consequences of being hacked can be severe. Luckily, there are a few things that businesses can do to stay safe from hackers, and this post is here to share them.
Use Software
There’s software for nearly anything these days, so it makes sense that there’s software to protect you from hackers as well.
In fact, there are multiple types of software aimed at improving your business’s online security. Spam filters can help you keep spam out of your mailboxes, antivirus and antimalware software can protect you so that you don’t accidentally download a virus onto your devices, and services like Lunio can help increase your online security and protect you against hackers.
If you’re worried about the costs of these different types of software, just remember that they are an investment in your business’s safety, so they are worth it.
Hire Trustworthy Employees
Unfortunately, many hackers may try to infiltrate a business by getting employed by the business, as this makes it easy for them to gain access to sensitive information.
Of course, there’s no way of ever truly guaranteeing that the people you hire are trustworthy, but you may want to be extra careful when hiring new employees, just in case. You can start by doing a thorough reference check, checking if they have a criminal history, having them take a personality test, and verifying any qualifications they claim to have. When it comes to your business’s safety, it’s always better to be cautious.
Only use secure websites
Most of the time, viruses and hackers come from websites that aren’t secure. So, you can add website blockers to ensure that your employees only use websites that are approved for work purposes.
You should also look into ways of determining whether or not a website is secure. If you’re suspicious of a website, you may find it helpful to read this post as it will give you more insight into how you can tell if a website is secure.
Hire a security team
It may sound extreme to hire a security team if there isn’t a physical threat, but hacking does still pose a severe threat to your business.
If you do not have the time or knowledge needed to protect your business from hackers, or you suspect that someone might be trying to hack your business, it can be helpful for you to hire professionals. Nowadays, there are many people within the IT industry who specialize in cybersecurity, so it might be worth looking into.
Use strong passwords
Unfortunately, a strong password won’t entirely deter hackers, since many hackers can hack through passwords. That being said, the stronger your password, the harder it will be for a hacker to hack it.
You should use passwords that are a combination of capital and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols – and encourage your employees to do the same. You should also not use the same password for multiple sites, and try to use passwords that aren’t easy to guess. And, of course, you should never share your password with anyone. If you struggle to remember and keep track of your passwords, a password manager might help.
Don’t buy secondhand devices
We know it can be tempting to buy secondhand devices, especially for businesses that need to buy lots of devices. After all, secondhand devices are often much cheaper, and most people wipe their devices before selling them, so it should be safe to purchase them, right?
However, even if it looks like a device has been wiped, there could still be harmful software on there that can potentially corrupt your data and give hackers access to all kinds of information.
The only way you’ll ever really know if a device is clean from viruses and malicious software is if you are the only person to ever use it.
Never share confidential information
It probably goes without saying, but it’s worth mentioning again: you should never share any type of confidential information, especially not online.
As mentioned, you shouldn’t share your password with anyone, but you should also not share any other information with anyone, and you should ensure that your employees won’t, either. Even if something may seem insignificant, hackers can use it to their advantage, so you need to always be on alert.
Even aside from the security risk, there are many other reasons why you and your employees should never share sensitive information. You can learn more about why confidentiality in the workplace is important here.
Use private wi-fi
If you or your employees ever work outside of the office, it’s vital that you only use private and trusted wi-fi networks, such as your home wi-fi networks. This is because hackers often use public wi-fi to hack your devices.
You should thus also be careful when sharing your office’s wi-fi password because you never know who might try to hack you.
If it’s unavoidable and you have to connect to a public or unknown wi-fi network on your work device, you can still do this safely if you use a virtual private network (more commonly known as a VPN).
In conclusion
As amazing as advances in technology may be for businesses, there are unfortunately a few risks that go along with it. One major risk that businesses face is that of hackers.
There are many reasons why hackers choose to hack businesses – sometimes, they want to cause serious damage, while they may just be looking for a laugh at other times. No matter what their intent is, there’s no denying that it can have severe consequences for a business, which is why it’s best to do everything you can to protect your business from hackers.
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