6 Things You Must Do To Secure Your Company’s Data

These Are The 6 Things You Must Do Right Now To Secure Your Company’s Data

By Gene Marks
Published: July 26, 2021 | The Hartford Small Biz Ahead

I have a client who was the victim of a ransomware attack. As a result of this attack, all her files were locked and encrypted. She was told that if she paid $100, she would get a “key” with a special code to decrypt her files. They wanted the $100 to be paid in Bitcoin. She didn’t know what to do. However, the ransomware attackers provided a toll-free number for her to call.

You heard right. A toll-free number. To call the ransomware attackers. So she did. “They walked me through the entire process,” she told me. “They were actually really nice. Even better than the customer service I receive from other big companies.”

Yeah, that’s a true story. Ransomware has become such a huge industry ($4 billion a year according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation) that the people orchestrating these attacks literally have customer service departments.

If your business hasn’t been the victim of a ransomware attack, or a “phishing” scam (for example, your CEO is impersonated on an email asking for confidential information), or a malware attack that creates havoc on your platform just for fun, you’re lucky. So far.

According to Verizon’s 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report, 28% of the breaches in 2019 involved small businesses. And in another terrifying statisticprovided by security firm Purplesec, the victims of cybercrime were up more than 600% in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Data security was a huge issue before COVID. And now it’s an even bigger problem because so many employees have been — and will continue to be — working from home. Home computers that are shared with other family members — particularly kids on social media — are not exactly the most secure environment.

Once a device is compromised, your network is compromised. If your network is compromised, your customer data can be breached or files locked down or stolen. The result: potential lawsuits and interruptions or even termination of your business.

So what can you do? Here are six things you need to do immediately.

1. Buy security software. There are plenty of good choices out there like Avast, MalwareBytes (which is what we use), and Bitdefender. But make sure this software is installed on all devices used by your employees, even their home devices. Better yet, hire an outside IT firm to monitor and ensure that the applications are updated.

2. Setup online backup. Make sure your databases — cloud or otherwise — are backed up multiple times per day. Use cloud services like Barracuda, Carboniteor IDrive. This way if you are attacked, you have the option to wipe everything clean and restore from your last good backup…[More]

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To read the full article by Gene Marks, visit: These Are The 6 Things You Must Do Right Now To Secure Your Company’s Data