7 Tech Safety Tips for Small Businesses

Whether you’re ordering business supplies or reaching out to customers, you rely on technology to take care of business. Practicing tech safety whenever you go online not only protects you, it also safeguards the information you store about your customers– thus limiting your cyber liability.

Here are some ways you can do your part to keep your business safe online:

1. Socialize Responsibly

Social media is good business. So, if you’re smart your business has a social media presence of some kind. But, dangers abound on social media sites, making it important to create guidelines that spell out safe and unsafe online practices for your employees.

2. Always Use Strong Passwords

Keep all your computer and online accounts protected with strong passwords and stick to a schedule for changing them regularly. Only give admin privileges to those employees who absolutely need them.

3. Pay for Virus Protection

It’s worth the added cost to install and regularly update antivirus and antispyware software on every computer in your business.

4. Invest in Good Locks

Help prevent your monitors, laptops, tablets, and other critical technology devices from disappearing with locking devices that discourage theft.

5. Secure your Wi-Fi

Secure your Wi-Fi networks for employees and guests separately with a private password that changes regularly. You may even wish to configure your wireless access point or router so your network name is not visible to outside users.

6. Separate Business & Pleasure

While it might be tempting as a small business owner to use the same computer for business and home, you could put your business data at risk by using the same machine for both. Consider buying a separate computer for personal use and make sure that your employees limit personal use on business computers.

7. Invest in IT Personnel

If you don’t have an IT person on staff, hire an IT consultant to help you create a more solid computer security policy. These trained professionals have seen it all and can help you implement best practices to protect your company data.

How your business handles technology is too important to leave to chance. Take some time this week to think through your technology policy and be sure to share it with all your employees so they understand their role in protecting your business data.

As added protection, if you process online payments and handle sensitive customer data, you may want to talk to your insurance broker about cyber liability insurance policies for small businesses. These policies are more affordable than you think and minimize the impact to your business should you fall victim to a data security breach.

Have any questions? We can help.

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