3 security mistakes small businesses need to avoid

The phrase any business owner most dreads hearing at the moment is probably “data breach.” A data breach means you failed to protect your customers’ information and that you’re about to lose the trust of your clientele.

It seems like every major company has had a data breach in the past year, but while a big company can survive the PR nightmare, a small business often can’t.

Even worse, if the big boys can’t keep hackers out of their systems, how can a smaller company that’s operating on a shoestring budget hope to stay safe? It seems almost impossible.

Fortunately, avoiding some basic mistakes that companies of any size can make will help minimize the risk. Taking care of these won’t make you 100% safe, but it should make a data thief’s job harder. So, let’s get started on protecting your business.

1. Trusting employees too soon

Most small businesses have records that could be extremely valuable to anyone willing to commit identity fraud. Criminals know this, and your customers’ personal information could be worth more than an employee’s yearly salary.

Just because you trust someone enough to hire them doesn’t mean that you should give them an all-access pass to your networks. Work with your tech team to set up layered access to your company’s records. People should only be able to see what they need to do their job.

Even something as simple as making your employees use Standard computer accounts keeps them from slipping data-stealing software onto your network or accidentally downloading it. Tap or click here to learn how to set up a standard account.

Similarly, if an employee’s job demands that they always have access to your customers’ sensitive information, then always do your due diligence. You can do a fair bit of digging into someone’s past yourself online. Tap or click here for the steps to take.

Your employees won’t be offended if you explain your reasoning for giving them limited access or requesting a background check before revealing customer information to them.

2. Using outdated systems

The single easiest way for a hacker to get into a system is to slip in through a hole in your security. The way holes get there is when you…