In the wake of cyber security breach which may have exposed personal information of four million federal workers, the Department of Homeland Security is stepping up efforts to remind citizens that cyber security begins with the individual.
For the small business owner, cyber security may not seem like the highest priority, until it needs to be. The problem is that many small business owners look at security breaches at major firms and even the federal government as evidence that the protection they can afford will not be enough to deter hackers.
However, the Stop. Think. Connect. campaign from the Department of Homeland Security estimates that 64 percent of industrial cyber security breaches occur as a result of employee actions or system glitches. Simply training employees to use more secure passwords can cut down on the problem.
Among the DHS suggestions are:
- Change your passwords every 45 to 90 days.
- Use complex passwords involving letters, both upper and lower case, numbers and symbols.
- Don’t share your passwords and login information.
- Report any suspicious glitches or computer problems to your IT department.
While many of these tips are widely circulated, research from Symantec, makers of Norton anti-virus software, suggests that almost half the computer users in the United States use the same two or three passwords for everything and when required to change their password, simply switch to another one on the list.
Further complicating the issue for small business owners is that many simply do not have the IT department resources to notice when something goes awry with their system.
Before your company gets added to the list of “We’ve been hacked,” consider calling Avantech for monitoring and protecting your systems to help keep your business safe.