As a business IT systems can be confusing, more so if you aren’t an IT support expert, there are many pitfalls to avoid, some of them can be extremely costly to your business. Especially those related to IT Security and Compliance.
Being “Cyber Secure” is a must these days, especially with the huge amounts of business information being stored within the Cloud. In this blog post we give you some of our top tips to ensure your data is safe and your company as secure as it can be.
Everybody is responsible for your company’s data and cyber security.
Run your software updates
Back Your Data Up Regularly
Backups are an essential part of running a business. You might think ‘it’ will never happen to you. But data loss can happen at any time, for a multitude of different reasons. Disasters can strike and cause significant damage to a company’s IT systems. Having a strong disaster recovery plan in place is essential for getting your business up and running after the worst has happened.
At ICU IT, we build a customised plan to protect your organisation’s most vulnerable areas and provide support in the face of any potential problems.
There are many backup solutions out there, and it is recommended to research which one is right for you. However if you would like to seek the advice of a professional, our team would be happy to help.
Further information about disaster recovery can be read on our business continuity page.
Anti-virus software and malware protection
There are a huge amount of Anti-Virus providers to choose from, but one thing to remember is the old adage “you get what you pay for”. If you go for a FREE antivirus software for your business you are running a huge risk that some viruses may slip through the net and infect the computers on your company network. The free anti-virus solutions offer basic protection but more often than not aren’t kept up to date with the latest viruses causing havoc on the internet.
We would always advise that you pay for a premium antivirus software, and install it on all machines that are connected to the internet.
All software installations should be authorised
One of the easiest ways to prevent any malicious software from infecting your computer and the network is to restrict your employees from being able to install software on their computers.
Don’t allow your employees to install any software that has not been authorised by yourself or the person in charge of IT. There are a lot of rogue applications out there that could introduce vulnerabilities in our system, so it is best to be vigilant about such things.
There are added complications if your employees are using their personal laptops for work, extra care should be taken in this scenario and a discussion should be had with each individual to highlight the importance of security.
Regularly Update Passwords
Beware of phishing attacks
What is phishing?
Mobile devices can cause a threat
Improve your IT Security with "Cyber Essentials"
The Cyber Essentials scheme is designed to provide help to firms that are looking to improve their IT security. It is a Government awards scheme where your company can be awarded the “Cyber Essentials Certification”.
There are 2 different levels you can attain as a business:
Cyber Essentials – A basic level of security certification is a simple self-assessment that, among other things, will guide you through ways to improve your safety and measure you can take. While it won’t provide complete protection for your computer against sophisticated attacks (mainly because those make up the minority in common threats), it will still protect you against low scale intrusions. This, in turn, makes it less likely for criminals to target larger, more high tech ones.
Having your business certified to operate on a higher level of security can give you peace of mind, and make it look like you are taking steps to ensure the safety of your company. This will entice clients, suppliers, vendors, etc as they want to know that their payments or deliveries won’t be compromised by having an unsafe company interact with theirs.
Cyber Essentials Plus – The enhanced level of certification is called Cyber Essentials Plus. It provides the same level of protection as they would get with the first, but requires an additional step to ensure your security measures are up to par and have been manually verified before you can gain this higher level of certification.
