The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. ~Albert Einstein
May is national Small Business Month.
Some interesting facts about small business, compliments of https://nationaltoday.com/small-business-month/
- Small businesses account for 99.9% of all U.S. businesses.
- Small businesses create 1.5 million jobs annually
- Approximately 70% of small businesses are owned and operated by a single person.
- It takes just six days to start a business in the U.S.
- Only 50% of small businesses survive for the first five years.
I’m proud to say Comp-U-Talk has surpassed the 5 year mark by 35 years. We celebrated 40 years in January.
Know what closes businesses? There’s the obvious: death and poor health, bad financial management, and the not so obvious: Cyber Attacks.
According to some studies, the impact of a cyber attack on small businesses can be significant. For instance, a report by the U.S. National Cyber Security Alliance found that 60% of small businesses close within six months of a cyber attack.
What’s it take to prevent a Cyber Attack? A multi-faceted approach is best. Here are the key strategies:
1. Educate and Train Employees. Often, cyber attacks exploit human error and ignorance. Regular training can help employees recognize and avoid potential threats. And it’s cheap, just $3/month.
2. Implement Strong Password Policies. Complex passwords and unique passwords for every site is a must. A password manager makes this easy.
3. Keep your software updated. Microsoft releases patches to its software on the second Tuesday of every month and critical patches are released as soon as a potential exploit is discovered. Chrome, Firefox and Adobe release updates on a regular basis as well. Keeping these updated reduces your risk for a breach.
4. Install Antivirus and Anti-Malware Software. Paid versions are proactive in protecting your system.
5. Secure the Network. Firewalls are critical.
6. Encrypt Data. This is a security technique used to protect data by converting it into a format that can only be read by authorized parties. Windows 10 and Windows 11 have the ability to encrypt data. It is not on by default.
7. Backup your data. The best backups are automated. They run every day at the same time. It’s a good idea to keep these backups offsite or in the cloud. I’ve seen multiple instances of local, onsite, USB backup drives being wiped out in a ransom attack. It makes grown men (and women) cry.
8. Monitor for suspicious activity. There are services that can watch for suspicious and unusual activity on your network. They are affordable.
You can do all of this on your own. It will take you some time to lookup and implement the processes and then you need to keep on top of it so it stays current. Alternately, you can hire Comp-U-Talk to stay on top of it for you. We are experienced, have already sleuthed out which tools work best and provide the best bang for the buck, and unlike you, we actually enjoy doing this! Give us a call today. We would love to help you out!
Janet
I’m Planting Corn this Year!!
