Counselor Commentary: Don’t Go Unprotected

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://www.asicentral.com/news/newsletters/promogram/march-2015/counselor-commentary-don-t-go-unprotected/

There has been some very positive data regarding small businesses in recent
weeks and months. Confidence is way up – even to historical highs in some
surveys – and most small-business owners believe that 2015 will be a banner
year. However, one survey came out recently that should be a bit of a
wake-up call to overly-optimistic business leaders today. Two words: Data
security.

The National Small Business Association’s (NSBA) most recent survey
reported that more than 90% of small-business owners believe that
cybersecurity is a concern for their companies right now. Further, half of
owners said their companies have been victims of a cyberattack, and 61% of
those data breaches have come within the past 12 months. So, in the same
survey in which 72% of small-business leaders said they’re either somewhat
confident or very confident about their firm’s financial future, these
company executives are also admitting to being highly worried about whether
their information, data, and technology systems are protected enough from
hackers.

It’s a concern that all companies should have – and that all good leaders
are doing something about. The reason? It’s a financial decision right now.
Think of it like insurance. The NSBA survey also reported that data
breaches come at an onerous cost to companies – on average, each attack
costs small businesses $20,752, or about 140% more than the per-attack
average from the prior year.

The costs come in recovering data, communicating with clients, suppliers,
and employees, and implementing new systems. The way to avoid all of that
is to invest in the insurance of data security now. Make sure your web host
is secure and hasn’t suffered a data breach recently, establish firewalls,
limit collection of credit card information from clients, and immediately
erase the financial information of any client as soon as possible after a
transaction is complete.

Plus, make sure you’re educating employees. This is something all people at
a company can help to combat. They should create strong passwords (upper
case, lower case, numbers, and symbols in every one), change those
passwords frequently, and log in to the company’s network only through
secure online systems. It’s a new day out there and the breeding ground for
online thieves is very fertile. Take steps now to ensure your company is
safe.

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