Francis Bacon once quipped that “knowledge is power.” Your business’ security is only as good as your users, so making sure your users have the power they need to keep your information safe is key to your business’ well-being.
Security can be a lot to tackle, considering that it covers everything from locking the doors to being aware of malicious payloads embedded in unscrupulous emails. The unfortunatetruth is that we end up pushing this off, or worse, thinking “a data breach can’t happen to me.” In reality though, the consequences of an information-breach can be incredibly detrimental. Networking-giant, Ubiquiti, lost $46.7 million when their financial department was attacked with a fraudulent email. Although they recovered what they could, only a fraction of the lost funds was restored, resulting in enormous loss for the company. In fact, this can happen to small businesses too. In our January newsletter, we highlighted Michael, proud owner of LabMD in Atlanta, Georgia, who had to close his doors due to confidential information being lost.
Francis Bacon also stated that “nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.” That means, if knowledge is power, the best defense is to educate yourself and your users on the quagmire of cybersecurity, so you don’t need to worry about finding yourself in a position like Ubiquiti or Michael. Here are some pointers on how to stay “in the know.”
Talk with your team about their role in company security
Your information is most likely to be exploited when it’s in the hands of your employees during daily operations. Something as innocent as opening an email or enabling editing mode in a Microsoft Word document can result in your entire network coming to a standstill. If you don’t have a reliable backup or a disaster-recovery plan, all your data could be potentially lost, and you would be at the mercy of the scammer. Or, in an even worse scenario, your data could be silently transported off your network and exploited for all kinds of nefarious purposes, putting your reputation and your business on the line. That’s why it is absolutely vital that your staff knows what to look for, and how to avoid putting your information outside of your control.
Empower your team with knowledge
With fraudulent attacks constantly evolving and the face of cybersecurity being in perpetual flux, it’s impossible to say, “Watch out for XYZ.” Instead, it’s much more effective to discuss the general concepts and what to be on the lookout for (e.g., bad grammar in the body of an email, and making sure that email links are pointing to legitimate sites). Since we take security, and your information’s safety personally, we’ve put together a program that is tailor-made for equipping you and your team with the tools they need to keep your data safe.
We know that being prepared is no easy feat, and IT Radix is here to help. Give us a call today to learn more about our Security Awareness Training and how IT Radix can empower your staff to keep your data secure.
First published in our March 2017 IT Radix Resource newsletter
