3 Overlooked Strategies to Strengthen your SMB Security

Small to medium businesses are concerned about cybersecurity. Yet many fail to properly protect their businesses and don’t establish ongoing IT security management measures. 
 

A recent survey by Business Australia revealed that while more than half of small businesses are worried they’ll fall victim to a cyber attack soon, almost 40 percent aren’t spending any money on their cyber defences. Many SMBs also falsely believe cybersecurity is a tech issue and protection can be achieved with a single piece of software.  

We know that securing your small businesses can seem complex or potentially costly, which means it tends to drop down the list of priorities or get lost amid the myriad of daily decisions and business-as-usual tasks. 

But the problem is, when it comes to hackers and scammers — small businesses are a big target.

 Yes, your small business is attractive to hackers  

 Even though cyber threats are a persistent worry in the minds of SMB leaders, the lack of investment in strong cybersecurity may arise from outdated views about the level of risk, and how hackers work. 

 Three common ways SMB’s perception of risk is clouded include: 

• Old-school ideas about hackers being malicious individuals with a score to settle with your business. Nowadays, automated bots are more likely to be used to carry out cybercrime – a 2021 report found 1.2 billion cyberattacks were carried out this way compared to just 236 million initiated by humans.  
• Believing that their size, location or relatively obscurity compared to market leaders offers protection. Because of bots (see above) it’s easy and efficient for hackers to target all SMBs at scale. Various research has suggested that small to mid-sized businesses are the focus of between 40-60 percent of targeted cyber attacks. 
• Not appreciating the impact of a cyber security incident beyond lost funds. A survey of Australian SMBs by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) in 2021 found that while most respondents through they’d be up and running again within a matter of days, the true recovery period is commonly underestimated. Also, recoveries are often not complete: with many businesses permanently losing critical data or finances. How would that affect your operations or your customers? 

 It’s clear that securing your small business is vital but even those SMBs that are currently investing in cybersecurity often overlook important aspects. Let’s explore three of the best strategies for improving your small business IT security that most SMBs are overlooking:

1. Get help to secure EVERY digital gateway to your business 

Every device and system that connects to your business is a potential vulnerability when it comes to the security of small businesses, yet many businesses think that because they do back-ups or have anti-virus software they’ve done enough.  

 A lot of businesses quickly moved to the cloud recently, and continue to adapt their systems to remain profitable and attract employees who want flexible work options. But these changes can also increase your vulnerabilities.  

 A 2021 security report from Verizon found that more flexible working practices put in place during the pandemic had increased risks for SMBs, especially when it comes to employees using mobile devices. Disturbingly, 77% of SMB respondents cited in Verizon’s report felt the need to sacrifice security to “get the job done.” 

 It doesn’t have to be this way. You can safely expand your IT ecosystem and enable people to work remotely if you take the right precautions. However, managing solutions that secure the full breadth of your network, cloud systems, software applications, and endpoint devices is a big job. A do-it-yourself approach that’s favoured by many SMBs may not be comprehensive enough, so consider working with an outsourced IT security provider to cover all your bases.

2. Make cyber awareness a core part of your training and development efforts 

People are the first line of defence when it comes to securing your business against cyber threats, because many attacks arise from issues with how humans use and manage IT networks and devices. All it takes is one employee with poor security habits to create an opening for hackers. 

 Your vulnerabilities go beyond the technical systems in place and include physical access to devices and workflows such as how you create and manage various accounts, your payment processes and how you onboard employees or manage departing employees. 

Think Technology provides training to lift your team’s awareness and abilities. But we’ve also helped SMBs technically enforce policies about how people should be behaving and implement solutions to simplify security habits. For instance, by: 

• Implementing a multi-factor authentication solution and workflow that makes it impossible for people to access your systems without verifying their log-in credentials. 
• Introducing password management software rather than expecting employees to manually record and update their passwords. Password managers also make it easy to generate unique, secure passwords so people aren’t tempted to re-use a similar password across multiple accounts (which puts all accounts at risk if one gets hacked).

3. Regularly update your security roadmap, such as through an independent audit

Feeling ill-equipped to handle cybersecurity is a dangerous position for your business to be in. But how do you gain the confidence needed to implement a plan to secure your business? 

An independent audit of your current IT security landscape — called an IT security assessment — is a cost-effective way to gain a high-level understanding of where your security measures need attention. An expert IT security assessment is: 

• The ideal ‘first step’ for SMBs that lack adequate cybersecurity, because it provides the foundation for prioritising specific activities and spending on cybersecurity.  
• A smart way for SMBs that have already invested in security measures to ‘take stock’ periodically: after all, cyber threats evolve quickly and defences need to continually evolve as well.  

Expert guidance on the best approaches to tighten your security provides peace of mind for SMBs and lays the foundation for sustainable business growth. It’s best to base your assessment and mitigation work on best practice strategies. Think Technology uses the ACSC’s Essential Eight Maturity Model as the baseline for developing our IT security assessments and recommendations for mitigating cyber threats.

 Get proactive and advance your small business cybersecurity 

ACSC’s survey revealed that Aussie SMBs who’d experienced a cybersecurity incident were more likely to outsource. But why wait until you’ve experienced a set-back to get professional help? Getting the jump on IT security is a growth strategy, and outsourcing to a reputable and reliable provider is a sensible long-term investment in the future of your business. 

A valuable initial piece of work is Think Technology’s IT security assessment, which is tailored for small to medium enterprises. Learn more about booking an IT security assessment.