What to look for When You Need Help With Cyber Security
Category: Blog
By Janice
26/07/2019
Cyber security breaches have been on the increase in the past couple years
There is no sign of cyber security breaches slowing down as we move deeper into the information age. Nearly half of all UK businesses have reported cyber security breaches in the last 12 months. But what is cyber security? It can be defined as the “technologies, processes and controls designed to protect systems, networks, and data from cyber attacks”.
You’ve probably heard of the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal in which millions of Facebook users' personal data was compromised and used for political campaigning.
However, you don’t have to be a company as big as Facebook to become a target. In fact, small businesses are much easier targets for hackers as they tend to have a small IT team handling their cyber security concerns instead of having dedicated cybersecurity experts on the case. Let’s take a look at what you should be looking for when you need help with cybersecurity:
1. Experience
Whenever considering help protecting your IT systems make sure you go with a company or an individual with experience. Don’t hire your head of marketing’s son because “he’s good at computers”. You need an organisation or someone with an in-depth understanding of the cyber threats your business is facing and how to safely protect digital assets and communications. This is why you should be looking at options with a track record of cyber-defense.
2. An Understanding of Today’s Threats
Unfortunately, hackers are constantly innovating within their practices in order to be more effective. This is why you need to make sure whoever you end up working with understands what the latest threats are and knows how to counter them should your business become a target. The most common types of cyber attacks on small and medium-sized businesses are Phishing Attempts, DDOS, Data Leaks, Malware, Ransomware and Password Attacks. If the cybersecurity experts you are dealing with do not understand any of these threats or do not know how to protect you against them, then they are probably not right for you.
3. Direct Support
Due to the nature of cyber-attacks, you want to make sure whomever you are working with will be readily available should an issue arise. Time is of the essence when you are being attacked, every minute spent trying to get in touch with your chosen cyber security experts could mean valuable documents being leaked or loss of business due to your site being down. You want to make sure that whoever you decide to work with is ready to jump on the case straight away if their security measures have been breached.
As a business owner, it is your duty to ensure that your website is secure and that you are not threatening your customers’ online security. This is relevant for almost anyone operating online: as long as you are collecting as little as an email address from your customers, you need to ensure there is absolutely no risk this email gets stolen or misused by anyone who can gain access to your network. Cyber Security can still, however, be a hard concept to grasp and a difficult process to implement, which is why you need to follow the tips above regarding what you should be looking for when you need help with Cyber Security.
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"What You Should Be Looking For When You Need Help With Cyber Security" - part of the Company Connecting Cyber Security series. IF you would like to contribute an article, then please get tin touch.
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