Think it’s only huge multi-billion businesses that are under cyber attack? A recent study showed that small businesses are under increasing threat from cyber criminals. It found that 42 percent of small businesses that have suffered a cyber attack lost more than 20 percent of their potential new business as well as a significant percentage of revenue. These damaging stats are why it is so important to protect not only your business but also your customers from the dangers of a cyber attack. There seems to be a return to so-called old-school attacks with the likes of spam emails and third-party cloud apps being the main culprits. Here’s what you can do to protect against cyber attacks:

Shut the door on cyber attackers

Ensure your business has cybersecurity practices in place. And ensure that your employees follow these practices diligently. Keeping your business’ computer systems up to date should be step number one. There is no point in leaving the door wide open for cyber criminals to just waft in. Install firewalls and antivirus software on all servers and all computers. Additionally, protect your business with automatic updates of whichever operating system and software applications you use. This will ensure that you have the latest and most secure versions of the operating system and apps. Lastly, get your network administrator to install spam filters and malware filters on your incoming mail. That way, malicious emails can be automatically detected and quarantined. You should also get your network administrator to set up frequent changing of passwords.

Prepare your people against a cyber attack

Educating your employees on the basic principles of cyber defence should be a top priority for any small business. Inform all employees, new and old, of your cybersecurity measures. There is no point in assuming everyone knows not to open that suspicious looking email. Remind your employees of what to look out for and how to guard against malicious software hidden in emails and attached documents.