ONLINE SECURITY

Is Your Business Protected?

What is one of the biggest threats to small businesses these days? Believe it or not it is something that 20 per cent of Federation of Small Business members have not taken any steps to protect themselves from:

e-Crime

The UK’s crime statistics demonstrate that the incidence of e-crime is high and increasing. In July 2012 RSA dealt with 250,000 attacks, on average about one per minute. Three years ago, 87 per cent of large businesses suffered cyber-attacks. That figure has now fallen slightly but the crooks are going for easier prey, with about 90 per cent of smaller firms being hit by some form of attack according to an article in last month’s Daily Record.

A report earlier this year from the Federation of Small Business shows that 41 per cent of its members have been a victim of cyber-crime in the last 12 months, putting the average cost at around £4,000 per business. Around three in 10 members have been a victim of fraud, typically by a customer or client (13%) or through ‘card not present’ fraud (10%).

A GCHQ report published earlier this year highlighted that a staggering 80% of cyber-attacks could be stopped through basic information risk management. So here is the Federation of Small Business Top 10 Tips for Online Security:

1. Implement a combination of security protection solutions (anti-virus, anti-spam, firewall/s)

2. Carry out regular security updates on all software and devices
 

3. Implement a resilient password policy (minimum eight characters, change regularly)
 

4. Secure your wireless network
 

5. Implement clear and concise procedures for email, internet and mobile devices

6. Train staff in good security practices and consider employee background checks

7. Implement and test backup plans, information disposal and disaster recovery procedures

8. Carry out regular security risk assessments to identify important information and systems
 

9. Carry out regular security testing on your business website

10. Check provider credentials and contracts when using cloud services