When you are running a small business, there are many hats that you will have to wear as a business owner. Not only do you have to concentrate on the sales efforts of the business, but you also need to think about the marketing, financial situation, managing your employees as well as operations and the security of your business.
Technology has many benefits for a small business. Many years ago, e-commerce shops were far between and social media wasn’t really used at all. Fast forward many years and social media strategies and having an excellent website are imperative for a successful business that wants to run online. Unfortunately, with all these pros, you need to be aware of the negative and that is malware and scammers trying to attack your systems. This is why it’s important to pay attention to your security as a small business. Below we look more into this.
Unwanted email attention
When running a business, you will undoubtedly be sending many emails on a daily basis. With emails being so heavily used, hackers will target your emails in order to gain sensitive information. This could be done by sending you false emails called phishing emails, or by trying to pretend to be someone who they are not. If you are unsure about how to send safe emails, it’s important you do your research and look up how to send a secure email. If you have employees, training them on email safety is important as hackers may target them instead of yourself.
Hackers may attack your website
Another area that may get unwanted attention is your website. If you run an e-commerce website, online hackers may target this as a way to steal revenue from you as well as access your customers details. You will have heard many cases in the news where big brands have had their customer’s details stolen and leaked online. This can be very detrimental and could cause your website to go down for many hours whilst you fix the leak. If you are trying to attack new business markets with your website, having a secure one is essential.
Target your operational system
As a business, you may be using an operational system to communicate internally and externally. This could be in the form of a CRM system. If you do not have the necessary security procedures in place to protect this system, it could cause you a lot of trouble if someone attempts to install malware on it. CRM systems have a lot of personal data connected to them such as your customer’s details, your system may link to finance systems as well as any sensitive documents that you may have saved.
We hope the three points give you an insight into the importance of security in your business whether that be protecting your website, emails or operational system. Why do you think security is important for a small business? Is there anything you would like to add to the above list that will benefit our readers? Let us know in the comment box below.
