Publication by Nationwide

In 2018, Nationwide commissioned Edelman Intelligence to conduct a 20-minute, online survey among 1,000 U.S. business owners with between 1 and 499 employees. They found that while as many as 76 percent of business owners believe it’s important to establish security practices and policies to protect sensitive information, just 47 percent have established some level of security practices and policies. Despite increased awareness, many companies still have not fully established best practices.

Having best practices and policies in place, properly training employees, and holding them accountable can be the difference between running a successful business and courting disaster in the digital age. These ten tips can help keep your business safe.

1. Make Following Protocol a Priority

The number one priority when it comes to employee training should be making sure they understand that they are a part of what keeps business data secure. If they don’t follow protocol and ensure that the devices they use are protected, they could be the weak link in an otherwise secure network, giving viruses or other malicious code a backdoor into the system. Make sure they have the proper security software and tools on their machines and that they understand how it works and any efforts required of them.

Ideally, any software in use will receive automatic updates, but employees should be able to spot if there are any issues and know who to talk to (such as someone in the IT department) in the event that something goes wrong.

2. Have Policies in Place that Keep Sensitive Data Safe

Business owners need to have formal policies written out, and you need to share these documents with all employees. But it’s not enough just to share the documents and expect employees to read them in their entirety and absorb all of their contents. It’s a good idea to have discussions about the policies with employees during the training process and throughout the employment term. It may even benefit employers to periodically test employees about the content and ensure they continually follow protocol.

3. Teach Employees About Cyber Threats and Accountability

Employees must understand the serious nature of cyber threats and proceed accordingly. Make sure they understand how cyberattacks can damage businesses and that they know that if they violate protection policies, they will be held accountable for doing so.

4. Create Strong Passwords and Change Them Regularly

Everybody knows that strong passwords help to keep accounts safe, but how many people really adhere to this common advice? Businesses need to ensure employees know that they must use a strong password, and that they must change their password on a regular basis for increased safety. It may even be best to assign them passwords (on a regular basis). Just instruct them to keep the password safe from public accessibility, both online and off.

5. Enforce Policies Around Payment Cards

The U.S. Small Business Administration says, “Work with your banks or card processors to ensure the most trusted and validated tools and anti-fraud services are being used. You may also have additional security obligations related to agreements with your bank or processor. Isolate payment systems from other, less secure programs and do not use the same computer to process payments and surf the Internet.”

These are good tips to keep in mind, especially when training employees. Once again, be sure they understand that they are accountable if they use company cards and/or devices on which cards are used.

6. Requirebackup of All Important Data

Employees need to understand that the data they create and/or deal with belongs to the company, and that this data needs to be kept safe. That doesn’t only mean that it needs to be protected from attacks, but it needs to be backed up in case of any type of disaster, including something as simple as hardware failure. If relevant, make sure employees know how to back up data using methods described in your policies.

7. Only Allow Devices to be Used by Authorized Individuals

Company Issued computers, tablets, mobile phones or other electronic devices should only be used by employees who are authorized to use those specific devices. Also stress the importance of obtaining authorization to use any devices. Make sure employees know that they should not use any device without authorization and that they should not let anyone else use their devices without authorization.

8. Create Web Content Securely

Attackers frequently look for code on websites to exploit, and that means that anyone who may be creating or updating web pages should know how to do so securely and how to avoid allowing any backdoors for cybercriminals to exploit. Of course, only those authorized to do so should be updating any company websites. This is even more important on any pages that connect to sensitive information.

9. Prohibit Unauthorized Software

It should go without saying that unauthorized software should not be allowed on corporate devices, but business owners may need to continually emphasize this point, because even if there is no ill intent, employees may not think twice about adding software to their machine. They must be aware that this is unacceptable.

10. Train on Proper Email Use

Last, but far from least, you should discuss email use. Email is a common avenue for criminals to take. Educate trainees on spam and phishing, and help them understand how to identify illegitimate emails.

© Nationwide