Neglected cybersecurity practices critical for the workplace

As business owners, we know it is a priority to keep your business safe. We all know the basics of keeping your physical location safe, like using locks and security systems. But it can be challenging to know where to start when it comes to securing your digital assets. This has become especially critical considering the impact of COVID on our working landscape.

For better or worse, employees need the ability to work from anywhere. While this opens the door to unique collaborations and flexibility, it also creates a more significant threat to the digital security of your business. So what ways can you improve your digital security without overhauling your entire IT system?

Emails

When an email is sent through a service like Hotmail or Google, it is composed and stored using the client. It is sent across the network infrastructure to the mail server. This server sends and keeps the message. There are also the parts that connect the servers and clients.

At every step of this process, there are security risks. While there are ways you can increase the security and safety of your data in this process, the best way to ensure that bad actors can’t access your sensitive data while it travels through the server is not to send it! We recommend never sending passwords or credit card information over email.

Password management

The other area we often need to be addressed when it comes to small and medium-sized businesses is proper password management. Passwords are the first line of defense to protect your sensitive data.

Many businesses use the same password for multiple users or let employees keep passwords on sticky notes near their workstations. This can quickly become a disaster if even one disgruntled employee has access to the wrong passwords.

For example, let’s say the office administrator keeps the Amazon password on their desk for easy access when it is time to buy office supplies or restock the kitchen. An employee who plans on quitting soon notices this and decides to log in and use the company card to do their shopping. Suddenly, your business had charges of a few thousand dollars that you didn’t authorize! This means capital and time are tied up for weeks trying to get this sorted out.

To combat this, we recommend using a secure password management system officewide. However, if you’re going to do this, every employee must use it, so it doesn’t create one apparent vulnerability.

If managing your and your team’s unique IT needs takes time away from your clients, we can help. We know how frustrating it can be to spend hours on technology issues and never resolve them. This is why we have customizable solutions for businesses of all sizes, so you never have to pay for things you won’t use. Contact Team Logic IT today if you want to secure your business technology.