Make It Your Business to Safely Browse the Web

Whether you are a hands-on boss or someone who doesn’t monitor all that much of what your employees do on a daily basis, making sure you have Internet security is crucial in today’s world of hackers and identity theft thieves.

As too many business owners have discovered in recent years, it just takes one hacking event to throw one’s business into disarray. When that happens, not only can it turn into a financial nightmare, but the negative public relations fallout can be equally devastating.

Given those facts, what are you and your employees doing to make sure your Internet browsing habits in and out of the office on work time are as safe as possible?

Review Security Measures Regularly

In order to protect your brand as best as possible, remember these tidbits:

• Software security – First and foremost, you’d better have the right software security in place to thwart as many attacks as possible. Some companies that have such security in place fail to regularly test it, meaning they can’t with 100 percent certainty say it works like it should. Designate one or more of your employees to “test” the system regularly to see if it is doing what it is supposed to. You can all but bet that hackers are probing your security software, so you need to do the same;
• Who you hire – While you would like to think that everyone you hire is 100 percent trustworthy, employers discover over time this is not the case. As a result, it takes just one rogue employee (either current or someone you fired or laid off) to create trouble for you. When hiring workers, make it abundantly clear to them that there are consequences for trying to steal company and customer data from your network. If you suspect and/or discover that someone is stealing sensitive data from you, make sure to do a thorough investigation. At the end of the day, not only can such action be a financial burden for your business, but they can also prove damaging when it comes to customers trusting you and your brand, wondering if their data is truly safe with you;
• Suspicious websites and downloads – It should not come as a big surprise that hackers are regularly trying to penetrate your company’s networking system. From sending attachments containing malware to employees downloading suspicious sites, it just takes one successful hacking attempt to cause problems. Remind your employees that they should never download and/or visit questionable attachments and websites. Many employers will block certain sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc.) so that their employees can’t visit them during the workday. What can oftentimes end up happening is that workers will try to go around such blocks, oftentimes causing more problems than if you had let them on safe social media sites in the first place. While your employees are at your office to first and foremost work, letting them have a few minutes on safe social networking sites during their breaks can be beneficial to everyone involved;
• Customer assurances – Finally, many companies will be hit by hackers once or multiple times during their years in business. As a result, how brands respond to such attacks is key, especially in their efforts to retain those customers who have had sensitive financial and other personable data compromised. If your business is attacked by hackers, make sure you respond in a swift and professional manner. This means letting customers know that you are on top of it, you are doing everything possible to assist them in recovering and replacing their personal data, and you will do your best to prevent it from happening again. Oftentimes, how a brand responds to such an attack will go a long way in determining whether or not customers have faith in that company and its leadership.

Running your business in 2016 and beyond undoubtedly takes a large degree of your time, along with making the decisions that will ultimately best suit you, your customers, and even those working for you.

When it comes to keeping your network safe, use a team approach, meaning you, your customers, and your employees are all on the same page in order to protect company and consumer data.