By Debbie Gregory.

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Technology drives the ways in which companies operate and is the key to overall operating efficiency. The proper use of technology can also make a small business work and appear to be much larger than it is and this a great equalizer.

 

Businesses that go out of their way to adopt new technology and those that continuously make smart investments in technology are the ones that end up being more profitable.  They are also better prepared to weather challenges when they come, and they are the leaders in their industries.

 

Investing in technology, cyber security as well as data privacy are often critical for all types and sizes of businesses.  This does not just apply to healthcare providers, governments, and large corporations. In today’s world, employees, vendors, and customers expect rightfully so tight security as part of their experience working with any type of company.

 

IT security must be an integral part of all business operations in every sector. Below are a few tips to help keep your personal, business, and customer devices and information safer:

  • Cyber security techniques and practices are constantly changing; take the time to keep yourself and your employees up to date with the latest information on cyber security at regular intervals.
  • Use strong authentication, requiring more than a simple username and password to access accounts. This is especially important for critical networks to prevent access to stolen or hacked credentials.
  • In cases where you must use a traditional account and password combo, make sure that you utilize long, strong, and unique passwords to better harden your accounts against intrusions.
  • Never use the same password twice.
  • Change your passwords every 90 days.
  • Conduct regular backups of all systems. Any system can be restored. In cases of brute force attacks or ransomware, having current backups of all data speeds the recovery process quite a bit.
  • Keep your computer’s spyware and antivirus software up to date and make sure that you scan your computers regularly.
  • Make sure that your firewalls are always current and up and running.
  • Always be wary of emails asking for personal or financial information. Never click on links or open emails that seem suspicious that you do not know.
  • Always shred documents that you do not need, don’t just throw them in the trash

 

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