News of company-wide data breaches is growing rapidly, and recent research indicates that small and medium sized businesses actually suffer more than the major corporations.  Not only do they suffer more cybersecurity attacks, but the costs associated with these attacks are alarming.

“In 2017, average malware-related costs for small and medium-sized businesses included $1,027,053 due to damage or theft of IT assets, and $1,207,965 due to disruption to normal business operations,” according to a study by the Ponemon Institute.

Click through this infographic for complete breakdown of how data loss operations of small and medium sized businesses.  

These recommendations are some of the most foundational practices to achieving online security.  They are simple enough to put into action today, and easy enough to educate the rest of your team members on the significance.

Best Practices

1. Use long, complicated and unique passwords and change them every 4-6 weeks.
2. Use passwords managers like LastPass or DashLane to assist in generating and storing passwords.
3. Use email encryption tools like ZixMail to encrypt and decrypt sensitive messages.
4. Always use the most up to date software.
5. Back up critical data regularly.

 

What to avoid

1. Never write down your password.
2. Never open links from unknown senders.
3. Never disclose sensitive information via phone or email.
4. Never download attachments from unknown senders.
5. Never input a username or a password unless you’re 100% sure of its legitimacy.

Pro Tip:  Visit secure site, www.havibeenpwned.com and enter your email address to check if your account has been compromised.

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