Is your business or school at risk from Cyber security attacks ?

The Covid-19 pandemic has made small businesses more vulnerable to cyber security attacks.    Increased remote working and use of contactless payment methods have given attackers new opportunities to target businesses.    Although it might be difficult to stop every threat, small businesses can protect themselves in a post-pandemic market by having as many layers of defence as possible and creating obstacles for hackers to get around.

Arona can help you reduce the chances of your business becoming a victim of cyber crime with our layers of defence.

Step 1 – Back up your data

Think about how much you rely on your business-critical data, such as customer details, quotes, orders, and payment details. Now imagine how long you would be able to operate without them.

All businesses, regardless of size, should take regular backups of their important data, and make sure that these backups are recent and can be restored. By doing this, you’re ensuring your business can still function following the impact of flood, fire, physical damage or theft. Furthermore, if you have backups of your data that you can qickly recover, you can’t be blackmailed by ransomware attacks.

You’ve probably already used cloud storage during your everyday work and personal life without even knowing – unless you’re running your own email server, your emails are already stored ‘in the cloud’.

Using cloud storage means your data is physically separate from your location.

Step 2 – Protect your organisation from malware

Tip 1: Install (and turn on) antivirus software

Tip 2: Prevent staff from downloading dodgy apps

Tip 3: Keep all your IT equipment up to date

Tip 4: Switch on your firewall

Step 3 – Use passwords to protect your data

We suggest using two-factor authentication for ‘important’ accounts and avoid using predictable passwords.

Step 4- Avoid phishing attacks

In a typical phishing attack, scammers send fake emails to thousands of people, asking for sensitive information (such as bank details), or containing links to bad websites. They might try to trick you into sending money, steal your details to sell on, or they may have political or ideological motives for accessing your organisation’s information.

Phishing emails are getting harder to spot.  At Arona, we use email filtering services to send phishing emails to spam/junk folders to reduce this risk for your business.