44% of SMEs suffered some type of cyber-attack in the past year, and the average cost of a security breach in 2019 was a staggering £10,000.

A cyber-attack from hackers can happen from inside or outside a business, and employees are often the largest threat (without meaning to be!). Let’s face it, for most small businesses it’s not viable for all staff to have cyber security training. But when IT leaks or breaches of security happen, the consequences can be devastating for a small business.

Some ideas to prevent future cybersecurity attacks to your business include:

1. Prioritise training: the risk is still greatest from inside. No matter the size of your business, most risk comes from the internet and your PC so you can’t help being at risk! Training helps identify threats and how to respond to them. At a basic level for a small company, this could include some online self-study.
2. Multifactor authentication: it is becoming more popular as it heavily reduces chances of an unauthorised individual access your business’ network.
3. Firewalls and encryption: install and update appropriate software to keep sensitive information safe, some tools can scan networks and apps to detect breaches.
4. Vulnerability tests: able to close gaps and address weak points before hackers get their hands on them.
5. Daily backups: it can save you tons of money and time and being able to recover any lost information is key to keep your business running and not cause any type of losses.

Think about what the main threats to your business are, and how you can best protect yourself from them – Bolstering your IT security must be up there.

Having great systems and support in place helps you to do what you do best, focus on running your business. For anything else related to accounting and taxes, AIMS Accountants is available to help.

Find your local AIMS accountant to find out more information and ways to support your business.