Small businesses have to think about cybercrime just like Target and Home Depot do. In fact, though hacks on the biggest companies — and sophisticated attacks like Petya that target businesses globally — are the ones that end up in the news, most data breaches happen in small to mid-sized businesses, not larger ones. Yet in 2016, Security Magazine reported that 41% of small business owners are unaware of risks related to cybersecurity, and less than one-third (31%) take steps to protect their company against security breaches.
Small business cyber security is a big problem, but what can small business owners do to keep their company and customer information as safe as possible? A great place to start is by boning up on cybersecurity essentials with a free online introductory course offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) called Cybersecurity for Small Businesses.
This useful training exercise is self-paced and can be completed in about half an hour. You’ll want to budget some additional time to review additional free materials that are included as part of the course, and to complete suggested next steps at the end of the training.
The online class walks you through a series of topics that help define the importance of information security for small businesses and reveal what companies can do to keep their information protected. By the time you’ve completed the course, you’ll not only understand the importance of securing information through smart cybersecurity strategies, but you’ll also be able to:
- Identify the types of information that are most important to secure in your business
- Recognize the different categories of cyberthreats to guard against
- Determine your business’s level of risk
- Learn best practices to help protect your data from cybercrime
The course requires that you install either Acrobat Reader or Adobe Flash Player on your system, and there are some flash limitations that may require additional software. To take the course, just click on this link to fill out your course registration.
One of the simplest and best ways to safeguard your business is by protecting passwords and documents that contain critical business information.