How your small business can avoid experiencing a data breach
Data breaches happen all the time ―however, they’ve become more dangerous since the pandemic when most companies failed to provide digital security. Therefore, 43% of businesses in the UK experienced at least one digital attack in 2020.
There are many consequences to such occurrences. First of all, any organisation that goes under a data breach loses the majority of its customers, as the brand image is affected in such a way that it doesn’t provide trustworthiness. At the same time, the company can suffer financially speaking, since legal penalties are most likely to happen. But we’ll get into the consequences further on.
Knowing that your business can lose clients and be penalised for something you’re not entirely at fault for can be frustrating. So, let’s see how you can avoid data breaches and help your company flourish.
What happens after a data breach?
Any business can go through a data breach, and some of the biggest enterprises experiencing them include Yahoo, First American Financial Corporation and LinkedIn. Therefore, you may only partially eliminate the risk. As a consequence, businesses are impacted in the long term through:
Having a negative reputation that never truly goes away since the information on the internet can’t be deleted, and the facts can’t be denied;
Losing sales because customers have lost their trust in you and now are looking for safer alternatives, fearing they might get affected too;
Unexpected expenses, especially if the enterprise doesn’t have any cybersecurity insurance;
Being less attractive for employees because going through a data breach shows that the company might be irresponsible;
The aim of a breacher is usually to get money and make a profit out of your company’s weaknesses or just to leak sensitive information that puts you in an uncomfortable position. To eliminate those two baits, you need to be transparent with your practices and know when to pay the ransom and when to refuse and fight for your cause.
If you think you can change the course of the situation, you can check if you’re eligible to claim for data breach compensation so that you can save your reputation and receive a certain amount of money from what you have lost. Getting professional support is always advisable, so try not to get overwhelmed by your emotions and wait until you’re sure of your next move because it’s not easy to decide how you will face such a situation. However, if you aim to avoid experiencing a data breach, read along and find out how to protect your company.
How to make cyber security a priority
If you’re unsure how being focused on cyber security will help your company, know the probability of this happening to your company is higher than you think. At the same time, financial consequences are expensive, and you might find yourself and the business buried in debt before you know it. But why adopt such practices?
Benefits of cybersecurity
Cybersecurity will:
Enhance productivity through virus scanning, improved firewalls and automated backups.
Manage data better because cybersecurity can assist in operational efficiency;
Maintain trust and credibility since businesses with solid data privacy practices benefit from better long-term customer relationships;
Provide streamlined access control and reduce cybercrime threats by controlling internal and external processes;
And that’s not everything. But what matters is your business having full control over the methods and practices used that will help you manage it better and ensure that your company can be untouchable. At last, here’s what you should do to nurture cybersecurity.
Adopt cyber resiliency to your company culture
Adopting and using cyber security practices and tools would be easier if you could identify your business as focused on security. You're doing yourself a favour by prioritising your customer’s data and the company’s brand image. No matter the industry of your business, you can look at cybersecurity companies and follow their corporate principles.
Create a plan that suits your business
Now that you know your purpose, you need to know what you’re aiming for in terms of what needs to be done. Therefore, ask the IT team in your company to collaborate on a plan that covers any possibility of you experiencing a data breach so that you know exactly what you should do in any case. If needed, you can ask other departments in your company to share their opinions.
Monitor constantly to provide stability
Monitoring solutions can help your business keep up with any troubles and irregularities in your company because if you’re constantly keeping an eye on your systems, it’s less likely that you’ll be taken aback by regulatory changes. At the same time, monitoring can help you quickly detect any risks you may be prone to.
Choose software and firmware
Cybersecurity should be supported by software and firmware solutions too. Given that not everything can be detected and maintained by the IT department, opt for a backup plan that includes another level of security through antivirus so that you can ensure your operating systems and hardware are protected at all times.
Purge your data
Something specific to humans is to hold onto information and data “just in case”. However, in this fast-pacing world, much of the data we learn and own is unnecessary, which applies to businesses too. Therefore, look at what your company is holding onto and decide what should go and what needs to be kept since there are so many cloud programs to contain data safely.
Wrapping up
Small businesses are the most affected by data breaches because they might need a financial plan set that includes cybersecurity too. At the same time, some may consider they’re not a target since their value can’t be compared with more prominent companies. However, they are most likely to experience a data breach due to the lack of immunity their systems provide, making them the perfect target. So, if you want to protect your small business, try developing the tips below into your company culture.
