12 Things Every SMB Should Know About Security

Submitted by F-Secure

Small and medium businesses are the backbone of the economy, employing more than half of all private sector workers and contributing 50 per cent of UK GDP. Now, imagine you are a cyber criminal and you are picking your next targets. Do you go for the businesses which cumulatively have vast sums of money, but lack security controls (most likely) or do you go for the large enterprises which probably have an internal security team which focuses solely on protecting the company’s assets? It’s not like the movies – hackers don’t want a challenge, they want your money and will go for the low-hanging fruit.

Whether you have in-house IT support or you use a third party, here are some tips for protecting your company:

Patch immediately

When a vulnerability is found in an operating system by the manufacturer, they work out how to patch the problem and send out fixes to all registered users. These are the software updates that pop up now and again on your screen. Some companies rely on staff to apply these upgrades, whereas some manage these centrally. Either way, patch immediately. A published vulnerability is a security hole hackers know exist, and they also know that millions of people won’t bother to patch them. Until every computer is patched, you are susceptible to a security breach.

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