According to Vodafone’s Cyber Security Research Report of 2017, 86% of the high growth companies believed that using information technology tools for safeguarding the company against security breaches yields in more business opportunities. 90% of these companies found that their consumer base increased after adopting new security measures.
The correlation between security and business growth is perhaps related to how improving cybersecurity is now one of the highest demands made by consumers. Living in a world where consumers and their data result in more revenue for businesses, consumers often seek shelter against online threats. Not only has this, in cases like that of Equifax, result in loss of sensitive information.
Top ways to secure your business
Securing a business can be a challenging process with such a wide range of software and hardware to choose from. To simplify the process, we shall break the physical business security measures from that of cybersecurity measures.
Physical Measures
These include securing your business’s physical location against potential threats like intruders and unwanted visitors. Watch Mr. Robot for how that works.
- Controlling Suspicious Movement
Controlling unnecessary footwork is not only concerned with business security but also depicts how vital employee safety is for the enterprise. The best way to secure business is through installing high-security deadbolts, and industrial-strength lock such as Trilogy T2 DL2700, DL 2700 WP for password-protected access or Strattec advanced logic RTS which comes with fingerprint scanner providing a Two-Factor-Authentication process to limit access to authorized personnel only.
An alarm system, coupled with these industrial padlocks aids in detecting a breach in the padlock system, alerting the relevant authorities of the related threat. Surveillance through security cameras enables those authorities to trace back to the crime scene and help them catch those guilty of the crime.
Choosing the right surveillance method is however quite important as the type of camera differs as per the usage method of the device. Modern-day cameras often come with an option of remote surveillance.
- Vendor Monitoring
Securing your database is often not enough; most often significant threats are faced from registered vendor personnel who can potentially interfere with business operations. Ideally, vendors run a security check before entering a contract, and a through operational assessment is carried out relating to the list of clients that the vendor works/has worked for if vendor cash to cash cycle time and arrears management.
Employee transparency is essential when it comes to keeping a check on vendors. This is particularly important for your business to be aware of the concerned profile dedicated to interacting with your enterprise frequently. Softwares such as ArgosRisk and Security ScoreCard mainly function to aid vendor management and alerting enterprises for early warning signs for risks with vendors.
Digital measures
In recent research from Cybersecurity Ventures predicted that the global budget for cybersecurity would be increasing to 1 trillion US dollars from 2017 to 2021. This amount is only relevant due to the significant increase in cyber attackers over the years.
- Building an infrastructure for Cyber Security
Standard industrial practices include storing large volumes of data on different cloud servers. This cloud contains highly sensitive information that can only be accessed through authorized personals. Cloud services may be secured because of encryption, but cybercriminals often challenge themselves to pave their way through the strongest encryptions. For this very reason, data backup needs sufficient firewall protection – hence an enterprise needs to build infrastructure for cybersecurity. For a military high-grade secure connection, Creedon or encrypted cloud is the best security provider.
Another effective way is by threat intelligence to identify Indicators of Compromise (IoC) threats which can potentially harm a device using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms suggesting steps necessary for prevention. Tools such as Forcepoint UEBA provide transparent investigation analyzing the bottlenecks an invention is susceptible to in the future.
- Virtual Private Network
Having a dedicated business IP is often favored when an extensive network of devices are connected, enabling the data exchange between two parties in a secure manner. A VPN protects the data by creating an encrypted tunnel between two machines.
Virtual Private Network also provides enterprises the ability to mask their IPs through VPN Networks enabling complete online anonymity. VPN also gives safe access to remote users through the dedicated IP network. Some VPN services also provide add-ons that businesses can use to get dedicated IPs.
Secure your donation page
In the present scenario, it is pivotal for profitable and non-profitable business organizations to accept donations online to smoothly run their operations. With the intervention of online donation tools, the process has become even simpler because you aren’t directing your donors off your site. When donors can make donations on your site, you can retain them effectively.
However, Magecart attacks can not only put seller/buyer personal and financial information it can also pose risk to payment card data used by donors on a website. In a Magecart attack, hackers target online shopping cart systems, install malicious scripts to steal customer payment card information.
On the other hand, when donors thought of donating to your site, they trusted your brand with their confidential credit card or bank information. But, if you send Donor to the third party website, Donors have no clue about it.
They are not aware that the site is protected from compliance with SSL/TLS and PCI or follows encrypted criteria. With all these security concerns, make the donation page of your website highly secure so that they do not panic at all in making donations.
Next Steps: Secure your business for a profitable and secure future!
If you haven’t taken measures to secure your business yet, don’t wait for a breach to serve as a wake-up call! Consider at least one if not all of these security measures and gain consumer trust towards more profitable growth in business.
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