The mainstream media often covers stories that involve data breaches in large corporations or multi-national companies, but smaller businesses are also at risk if they do not firm up their data security.

Dexterous Group was set up in 2015 and looked to challenge the traditional accounting model by leveraging the opportunities and advantages offered by digitisation and cloud accounting.

In doing so, we acknowledged that online security is something that needs to be taken very seriously. Businesses can be targeted in various ways including sophisticated phishing scams, data hacks and fraud.

In this blog post we take a look at some of the simple ways you can firm up the data security of your business in a practical manner. You should also keep yourself informed of the latest security news from global players such as Microsoft.

1 – Data recovery

No matter what size your business is, your data is precious. Losing data as a result of hardware failure or disaster can severely impact on your business and can even threaten your whole operations.

Recommendations:

Keep a physical back of all files at your own premises
Save documents properly to the cloud as it offers more security
Engage service providers that operate in a cloud based environment

2 – Access to information

No matter how dedicated and trustworthy your team is, the truth is that people make mistakes. While a targeted security strategy is recommended, there are also simple ways to improve matters.

Recommendations:

Make sure that your staff are trained up in the area of digital security
Use passphrases instead of passwords
Secure your network through a VPN (virtual private network) so people can send emails and browse without putting your data infrastructure at risk

3 – Be mindful about social media

Email phishing scams have come a long way since claims of princes and dictators wanting to channel money into your bank account. These days, phishing emails are highly personalised, often with deep personal and business insights. The question you may be asking is how do scammers get hold of such information? The answer is social Fraudsters harvest data which people disclose on social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and others.

Recommendations:

Never post sensitive business information on social media platforms
Have guidelines in place to prevent staff from inadvertently disclosing information that you do not want to be made public
Tighten your defences by installing quality software solutions to prevent malicious emails from getting through

4 – Password strategy

Dexterous Group, like all other accounting firms, handles sensitive data belonging to clients on a daily basis. This is why we are big on password management. Darren Guccione, co-founder of Keeper Security, Inc. Keeper is the world’s most downloaded password security application, recently wrote an article pointing out that 76 percent of data breaches are down to weak passwords.

Recommendations:

Create a solid password management strategy
Avoid using passwords that are easy to remember. One of the first things that hackers do is look at social media for indicators of dates of birth, pet names, children and spouses names
Use a password management software, including random password or passphrase generation

5 – Two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is one of the most effective ways to secure your business data. Dexterous Group employs this procedure as a fundamental security factor.

So, how does it work? 2FA is very simple. It’s a two-step verification process that requires not just a username and password, but also a piece of information that only the user gets given – such as a code sent to their mobile phone.

Recommendations:

Add 2FA to your current sign-in process, If you are using the cloud
Seek the advice of a provider like Dexterous Group to help set up 2FA if you are not sure on how to get it set-up

6 – Protect your Wi-Fi network

The importance of this security measure cannot be stressed enough. The first thing you should do is make sure that you have two Wi-Fi networks set up. These should be totally separate and the public one (for use by staff and customers) should be open and not connected in any way to the other Wi-Fi network, which should be secured and used only for business.

Recommendations:

Protect the second Wi-Fi network with a strong password which you should change from what comes printed on the back of the router
Configure your Wi-Fi network to use WPA2 encryption
Make sure your router is stored in secure locations where people cannot get their hands on them

7 – Insure your data

Sometimes, there is nothing that can be done to prevent a data loss disaster. It could be something as crazy as a data storage centre blowing up at the same time as your onsite IT room getting flooded.

Recommendations:

Add an extra layer of financial security to your data and insure it
Remember to include insurance policies on your data for liability, interruptions and restoration of data.

The safer the better

Your business is your pride and joy and by implementing these cyber security tips, you will help keep it as safe as possible. Some of the measures might seem almost too straightforward, but it is a combination of small things that make the big difference. Contact us today on 1300 996 928 or send us an email on hello@dexterousgroup.com.au to speak to one of our experts and find out how to implement security measures to keep your business safe.