With more and more cybercrime incidents affecting businesses, the focus on cyber security is greater than ever. Not surprisingly, small businesses and large enterprises consider it an essential investment. After all, it does more than protect your organization from hacking attacks and data breaches in the long run. It safeguards your credibility, customer trust, and reputation. You can also prevent liabilities for data breaches and non-compliance by keeping security at the forefront.

But most business owners think beyond the basics when dealing with hacking threats. You need to go the extra mile because hackers are smarter than ever, and they are ever-evolving to attack organizations with sophisticated techniques. But a little extra effort can give you peace of mind against such threats. Let us share some actionable tech tips to take cyber security a notch higher.

Update your software and systems

Cyber attacks are rampant because business owners go slack with upgrades and take a set-and-forget approach. As a rule, your systems or software should be fully up-to-date because the latest versions address all flaws and leave no room for hackers to break in. They cannot access your network when there isn’t any vulnerability. Moreover, the latest versions run faster and give your business an efficiency advantage. Managing software and system updates should be on your mind to build resilience against cyber criminals.

Ensure endpoint protection

Ensuring endpoint protection takes you the extra mile with cybersecurity in the era of hybrid work. Most organizations have people working remotely and from the office. Remote employees access corporate networks from out of the office, leaving them exposed to attackers. But you can avoid the threats by ensuring endpoint protection for networks remotely bridged to devices. Consider it a small investment to secure and streamline your remote operations for the long haul.

Train your staff

Think beyond securing your networks and devices, and train your staff to create an extra layer of security. Employees are often the weakest link when it comes to cybersecurity. While dishonest ones may intentionally expose your system to risks, even the most loyal employees may fall prey to attacks. Attackers may exploit them by sending fraudulent emails and sharing illegitimate links. Employee awareness is vital as it helps them to see through such tactics and skip suspicious emails and links. You can create security awareness by running ongoing training initiatives.

Bring an ethical hacker on board

Surprisingly, bringing an ethical hacker to your team can protect your business against cyberattacks. Although these professionals are ethical, they think and work like cybercriminals. The best part is that you can get hackers for hire without breaking the bank. They check your applications and networks, find the tiniest vulnerabilities, and recommend measures to address them. You can rely on their advice to give your business an extra layer of security because they know all about the latest online threat landscape.

Implement access control

Another surefire tip to prevent attacks on your business is to implement stringent access control. Managing access to your network becomes crucial in large enterprises with hundreds of people on board. You can imagine the implications of an employee walking away with confidential data in a portable device. Likewise, someone can infect your network by plugging in a USB key with infected files into a computer. Physical access control is crucial to prevent such events. Likewise, you must set up robust authentication systems to ensure selective online access to files and documents.

Strengthen your passwords

Something as simple as strengthening your passwords takes you the extra mile with cyber defense. Create a robust password policy and enforce it for your team. For example, they should not use the same password for all applications. If a hacker figures it out, accessing any application and system is a breeze for them. Besides using different passwords, employees should also stick with strong ones because they are difficult to get through. It is equally vital to change them often to maintain a high level of protection for the system.

Besides implementing these measures, you should stay ahead with the basics of cybersecurity. Setting up firewalls, ensuring wifi security, and backing up your data are some measures you cannot overlook. Everyone in the organization should consider security a personal responsibility to keep your business safe from threats and attacks. Even a small blunder can cause a major disaster, so no one can afford to be slack at any point. You can rely on these measures to protect your business from cybercriminals, no matter how clever they are.