“We’re a small 5-person company that handles sensitive client data. I’m not confident that we’ve done all we should cyber security-wise.” — John G., Small Business Owner
It’s a tricky situation. Smaller companies have to — and want to — protect sensitive information. But they don’t have the budgets, IT staff or compliance knowledge to master cyber security like their corporate cousins. They want to build a culture of security, but they don’t know where to start.
Just in time for Cyber Security Awareness Month, iKeepSafe has created the Six Pillars of Cyber Security Leadership to help small businesses ask the right questions, hire the right people and prevent cyber flare-ups despite their resource gaps.
1. Exposure Identification: How are we handling account management, data backup and cyber incidents?
2. Business Compliance: What are we doing to protect our valuable customer and vendor data?
3. Property Protection: Will our business fold if we suffer a temporary or permanent loss of sensitive assets?
4. Agility Planning: What’s the game plan if we experience potential disasters such as a data breach or denial of service?
5. Risk Management: Do we have an employee who manages both information and physical security?
6. Operations Policies:Have we educated our staff around safe computing and data handling?