Internet security is everyones responsibility, from the administrative assistant to the president of the company. The internet is a wide open canvas for spammers and hackers to access your information. As technology expands, we need to take proactive measures to safeguard our business. That encompasses everything from protecting our emails to protecting the financial information associated with our business. We saw how easy it was for hackers to take control of all of Target’s servers to access countless millions of shopper’s credit card information. Our vigilance in combating hackers and other malicious groups starts with developing a strategy that is sound and easily implemented. Here are four tips to help you better safeguard your business from hackers.
1) Create Strong Passwords – It doesn’t matter if you’re creating a password for your email account, you have to create something difficult for hackers to get into. It is estimated that over a million people use “Password” in their password or as their password. If it allows, create a password that utilizes numbers, capital letters, characters, and something that doesn’t follow a logical pattern. The more difficult you make it, the more secure you will be in the long run. Also stay away from personal identifiers in your password, i.e. spouse’s name, birthday, favorite movie, etc. Hackers will look anywhere and everywhere for something they can use.
2) Never Open Up Suspicious Emails or Documents – These emails are a way to get into your business from email to all the financial accounts tied to your business. If you don’t recognize an email from any one person or organization, don’t click on it. One helpful tip is to check the grammar of the subject line before opening. There is a good chance that a poorly worded subject line or poorly spelled subject line has phishing written all over it.
3) Ask for Verification on Phone Calls – Another way hackers get into your business is by posing as a “financial institute” and claiming you’ve been hacked. They will likely ask for your email address, card information, and bank account information. You’re hooked in at that point. If you are ever in doubt about the legitimacy of someone, simply ask them for a phone number and say you will call them back. If they give you a callback number, cross reference it in a search engine and you will know almost instantly whether they are real or not. The FBI has stockpiled a list of phone numbers and email aliases associated with most scams. This will be listed high in the search engines if it is a recurring caller.
4) Closely Monitor Your Account – Any recent activity will show up on your account from the sites you’ve been to, to the time of the day you’ve logged on. It never hurts to do a spot check of your account to see if it has been tampered with. In 2013, Bing executives had hackers joyride into individual email and accounts for months without any of them knowing it. It was discovered by accident and the hackers were caught. If there is any suspicious activity, immediately report it.
5) Keep Logins Updated – Its always important to remember that security measures aren’t only to protect you from the unknown foreign predators, but also those that could be lurking closer to home. Many times fraud and embezzlement can start from the ‘inside’, whether it’s a disgruntled employee, or a recently fired one. All too often we can overlook the obvious, so as a precaution to save valuable time, as well as money, it is important to protect your business by updating logins and passwords frequently, especially as workers come and go.
Within recent years the number of attacks on businesses has grown, but so too have security measures designed and setup to prevent or stop malicious online attacks. The five listed above are just a few things that everyone in the organization can quickly abide by. It is important to safeguard your business from major threats, not just periodically, but every day.