Keeping your business safe from hackers and thieves becomes more and more difficult every year as malicious individuals invent ever more clever ways to overcome both technological and physical security systems. Luckily, security technology is also developing at a fast pace, providing you with several options to protect your business. Your security needs are highly dependent on the type and size of company you are managing. Do you know what kind of security system is best suited for your business? Try following this advice to keep your company save:
For a one man show
If you are running a small business solo, you probably rely heavily on one or two computers for correspondence, invoicing, research, and many other important management steps. If you have been acting as your own accountant up until now, it might be a good idea to look into investing in an online invoicing service that will streamline the whole process and that is guaranteed to keep your company’s information and data about your clients secure. Two tried and true online financial management websites are Freshbooks or Harvest, for example. For your other security needs, a basic AVG or McAfee personal computer security software should be able to keep your information safe. Since all of your data is being stored in one place, you should also seriously consider getting some sort of protection against physical theft, such as the software LoJack that has GPS tracking and theft recovery services or a Kensington cord lock specially made to physically lock your computer to a table or some sort of immovable object.
For a small company with less than ten computers
If your business is a bit larger and uses more than one or two computers but still less than ten, you should upgrade your security system to be able to coordinate between all of your hardware devices. If you have been using the basic software recommended above, you have probably had to upgrade the virus definitions and other security aspects of each computer individually, every few months. To avoid this tedious task, you can upgrade to a more inclusive security software like Kaspersky Small Office that allows you to simultaneously upgrade up to ten computers at once and manage privacy settings for programs and data on all of the computers from your primary hub computer. Software like this can even schedule regular backups for all of your hardware and scan incoming emails for malicious content in realtime. If your company is this size, you can still use the same physical security devices mentioned above to protect your hardware from theft.
For a company that uses more than ten computers
When your company reaches this level, more severe updates are necessary to guarantee the security of your software and hardware. At this point, you should be looking into investing in endpoint security software, which will give you significant control over not only the security of all of the computers used by your company but will even give you the ability to control the downloading or sharing of sensitive information, observe what devices are connected to which computers when, and sometimes even link mobile devices to the mother network – all from one central computer. You can try software programs like Sophos Endpoint Security, which can manage up to one-hundred computers and up to twenty-five platforms, or AVG Internet Security, which can manage up to two-hundred Windows-based PCs and servers. If you are controlling this many computers, you should definitely invest in an alarm and/or surveillance system to deter thieves as well. Although you may have theft insurance, it probably will not completely cover the costs of a break-in, especially those costs associated with smaller hardware parts or office supplies. Investing in used servers and other types of used hardware can lower your risk of theft and minimise your losses if a theft does happen.
Protecting your business from online and physical theft can be much easier than you think. Choose a security provider and program based on the type and size of your company to make sure it meets your individual needs. For more information, see Top Ten Reviews.