Businesses can suffer from a range of common IT security issues, many of which could be occurring daily without your knowledge.

Many common IT security issues that affect businesses are bound to occur at some point. Investing time and educating yourself to better understand these problems could potentially save your business time, money and headaches down the line. Knowledge is power. The more you understand about common IT security issues, the better equipped you’ll be at preventing, controlling and resolving them. You can also use this knowledge to improve company processes for the long-term success of your business.

Network security

Network security is a rising problem for businesses of all sizes and industries. Any organisation is at risk of a data breach. As such, network security is considered a critical element for the safeguarding of business data. Small to medium businesses are heavily targeted by cybercriminals as there deemed easier targets. This is due to the conception that a smaller business may not have a proactive network security policy in place.

Ensure that you have up to date anti-virus software and firewalls in place. Train employees to be wary of suspicious communications such as being able to spot phishing emails. Maintain strong passwords that are updated regularly. Make sure company data is backed up.

Reactive, not proactive

Technology is constantly evolving at a rapid pace. Concurrently, cyber threats also evolve and attempt to identify new weaknesses within your business infrastructure. Unfortunately, many businesses wait until their hardware and software development issues, instead of keeping them performing optimally. This results in multiple vulnerabilities, higher costs, and longer downtime, especially when concerning a cyber-attack or data breach. Being proactive and applying remediation measures to these weaknesses before failures and security breaches are exploited will ensure less downtime, fewer security risks, and lower IT costs.

Data Backups

Backing up data is a process that EVERY business should do. Unfortunately, a vast number of businesses still do not back up their data properly with 66% of businesses shutting down within six months of a data breach.

The importance of backing up data cannot be stressed enough. Not only should data be backed up but it’s just as important to ensure these backups are also regularly tested. This will make certain that business continuity is achievable. This takes us back to network security as a robust data backup plan is the last line of defence against a cyber-attack.

Password Strength

Make sure your employees are using strong passwords. Failure to do so will put company data at risk of being breached by cybercriminals due to the simplicity of the passwords in use. A survey found that two-thirds of IT decision-makers don’t check passwords against common password lists and over three quarters don’t check employee passwords against password complexity algorithms. Ensuring strong passwords are in place at all times is a straightforward measure in preventing unwanted access to company data.

Inadequate IT Security Experience

You may have someone who looks after your IT internally. Perhaps you have an acquaintance who manages some aspects of your IT systems. Depending on the size of your business infrastructure this may not be sufficient to keep you secure and efficient. A professional managed IT services provider will have a wealth of knowledge and expertise that will cover support, maintenance and security requirements extensively.