Today, cybercriminals are continuously changing their tactics to develop new approaches to steal from digital businesses. Information that is mostly at risk includes financial records, customers’ data, and intellectual property data.

As indicated by Federal Bureau of Investigation, more small businesses are increasingly becoming the main targets of cybercriminals. In the same year, monetary losses caused by cyberattacks against digital start-up companies averaged $2.2.

With such trends affecting digital businesses, you need to strategize on protecting your company against such attacks. Here’s how you can protect your digital business with the following IT tips.

1. Carry Out a Security Audit

The first step towards protecting your digital business is conducting a security audit. Such an audit will help you identify vulnerabilities and sensitive data that require protection. Here, you might have to seek the services of an IT company like one of the best Boston managed IT services company. IT professionals can help you audit your company’s IT infrastructure to establish possible vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit. Once you understand such vulnerabilities, you can seal the loopholes, protecting your digital business in the process.

2. Educate Your Staff on the Crucial Role they Play in the Security

Your employees act as the first possible contact through which attackers can penetrate your digital company’s system. Therefore, educating them of the important role they play in ensuring the company system is secure is crucial. Besides, vigilant workers can guarantee that human error — that is the main cause of data breaches, is reduced. Ultimately, well-trained workers will help protect your digital business against attacks from cybercriminals.

3. Use Strong and Hard to Crack Passwords

Using easy passwords to guess can be risky for your digital business since hackers can crack them in seconds. On the contrary, using complex passwords can prove difficult for cyber attackers to crack and gain access to sensitive data. Additionally, ensure you create and adhere to your company password policy to keep your system protected. For instance, ensure you or your staff don’t write passwords on paper. This can help prevent unauthorized persons from knowing your passwords.

4. Use Encryption Technology to Safeguard Your Company’s Data

Encryption is an excellent way to ensure your data remains safe even if attackers steal it. For instance, you might lose your USB thumb drive or hard disk, but anybody who gains access to the information can’t understand its content. Encryption is a technique that converts data into a form that is not readable and understandable. Besides, it’s extremely difficult for hackers to crack the encryption as it might take many years. Ultimately, this makes encryption one of the most effective ways to protect your digital company’s data.

5. BackUp Your Company’s Data

Having security strategies to protect your digital business is crucial, but if your information isn’t backed up, you will lose everything! Therefore, as you put security measures, ensure all your data is correctly backed up. Also, ensure you test your backup to be certain that you can recover your data if the need arises.

6. Develop Security Policies

It’s important to request your staff to remain vigilant and work securely, but you also need to formulate clear policies to guide them. Doing so will ensure that employees work within the allowed standards to create a safe and secure working environment.

For instance, you can have a policy stating that all notebook devices connected to the company network must have security software installed. Also, a policy stating that NO security information should be shared through a phone can help protect your digital business. Ultimately, having policies like these will ensure that your employees perform their part to stay alert regarding security matters.

Wrapping Up

Making sure your company’s data is safe and secure isn’t easy, and it requires professionals. Irrespective of whether your digital company is big or small, you risk being attacked by cybercriminals. However, you can implement these IT tips to help you protect your digital business in your capacity. Ultimately, taking your small steps to keep your digital business safe and secure can be the difference between securing your data or losing it