A Practical Guide for Small Businesses on How to Build Cyber Resilience

A small business can be ruined by just one cyberattack. Many businesses have a hard time getting back on their feet after it causes them to lose money, damage their reputation, and have to shut down operations. You might think that cybercriminals only go after big companies, but the truth is that small businesses are often easier to attack. This is where cyber resilience comes in. 

Having antivirus software is not enough to be cyber resilient. It’s about how well your business can get ready for, deal with, and bounce back from cyberattacks. It means building a strong defense system that not only stops threats but also makes sure you can get back on your feet quickly if a breach does happen. A business that is cyber-resilient can keep its data safe, keep its customers’ trust, and protect its future.

This guide will give you a step-by-step plan for making your small business’s cyber resilience strategy as strong as possible. We will talk about the most common threats you face, how to find your weaknesses, and the specific things you can do to keep your business safe. By the end, you’ll know exactly how to set up a proactive security posture that will help you succeed in the long run.

Getting to Know the Small Business Threat Landscape

You need to know what you’re up against before you can build a good defense. Small businesses are good targets because they often have valuable information but don’t have the same level of security as bigger companies. You should know about these common cyber threats.

Attacks that try to steal your information

Phishing is still one of the most common and dangerous cyber threats. These attacks use fake emails, text messages, or websites to trick employees into giving up private information like passwords, credit card numbers, or login information. “Spear phishing” is a common method in which attackers send personalized messages to a certain person or company to make them look more real and harder to spot.

Malware

Malware, short for malicious software, is a broad category of software designed to harm or exploit any programmable device or network. It has:

• Viruses are bad code that attaches itself to clean files and spreads through a system, messing up data and making things not work right.
• Trojans: Malicious software that looks like real software. Once it’s on your computer, it can make backdoors for other bad software or steal your information.
• Spyware is software that watches what you do without your knowledge and gathers information like your keystrokes, browsing history, and login information.

Ransomware

Ransomware is a very bad kind of malware that locks up your files so you can’t get to them. The attackers then ask for a ransom, which is usually in cryptocurrency, in exchange for the key to decrypt the data. There is no guarantee that you will get your data back if you pay the ransom, and doing so can make your business a target for future attacks. A ransomware attack can completely stop a small business from working, which can hurt its finances and reputation in a big way.

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

In a BEC attack, a hacker sends an email pretending to be a trusted vendor or a company executive. The goal is to get an employee to send money or sensitive company information without permission. These scams are very advanced and often get past regular security filters because they don’t have any links or attachments that could harm your computer.

Checking on your current level of security

You need to know where you stand before you can make a strong cyber resilience program. A full risk assessment will help you figure out what your most valuable assets are, what could go wrong, and how a cyber incident could affect you.

Step 1: Figure Out What Your Most Important Assets Are

Start by making a list of your most important assets. This isn’t just about the hardware. Think about what your business needs to operate and what data, if compromised, would cause the most damage. Your list could include:

• Information about customers (like their name, address, and payment information)
• Records of employees
• Bank accounts, company credit cards, and other financial information
• Intellectual property includes things like trade secrets and proprietary software.
• Key business systems (e-commerce platforms, CRM, and accounting software)
• Hardware (servers, laptops, and mobile devices)

Step 2: Find Possible Threats and Weak Spots

After you know what you need to protect, think about the threats that could put these things at risk. Think about threats from outside the company (like the ones listed above) and threats from within the company (like mistakes made by employees or malicious insiders). Questions you should ask yourself include:

• Where is our sensitive data kept? Is it safe?
• Who can see this information?
• Are our systems and software up to date?
• Do our workers know how to tell if an email is a phishing scam?
• What would happen if our main server stopped working?

This process will help you make a list of possible weak spots in your small business’s cybersecurity that need to be fixed.

Step 3: Analyze and Prioritize Risks

There are different levels of risk. For each identified vulnerability, assess the likelihood of it being exploited and the potential impact on your business. This will help you figure out what to do first. For instance, if a phishing attack on your finance department were to succeed, it could have a huge financial impact, so training employees in that area should be a top priority. Use a simple matrix with three levels (low, medium, and high) to rank risks based on how likely they are to happen and how bad they will be if they do.

Making a plan for cyber resilience

Now that you’ve finished your risk assessment, you can start building a defense with many layers. A strong cyber security policy for small businesses should include steps to stop attacks, a clear plan for how to respond, and regular training for employees.

Put in place basic security measures

These are the technical controls that you can’t change that make up the foundation of your defense. Start here if you want the best cyber security for your small business:

• Firewalls: A firewall keeps your internal network separate from the outside internet by watching and filtering traffic to stop bad connections.
• Software to protect against viruses and malware: Use trusted security software on all company devices to find and get rid of malware. Keep it up to date to stay safe from new threats.
• MFA, or Multi-Factor Authentication, MFA adds an important level of protection to your accounts by requiring a second form of verification, like a code sent to your phone, in addition to a password. Turn it on for all important systems, especially email and bank accounts.
• Updates to Software on a Regular Basis: Hackers often take advantage of security holes in old software. Make sure your operating systems, web browsers, and other apps can automatically update so you always have the latest security patches.

Make a plan for how to respond to an incident

You will have a cyber incident; it’s just a matter of when. An incident response plan is a written set of steps that tells your team how to deal with a breach. A clear plan helps people stay calm and avoid confusion, which lets them respond quickly and effectively, which can lessen the damage overall.

Your plan should list the most important steps to take to make your business more cyber resilient:

1. Identification: How to find and confirm a security breach.
2. Containment: Taking quick action to separate the affected systems and stop the threat from spreading.
3. Eradication: How to get rid of the threat on your network.
4. Recovery: Steps for getting systems and data back from backups.
5. Post-Incident Analysis: Looking back at the event to figure out what happened and how to stop it from happening again.

Set clear roles and duties for everyone in the plan. Who is in charge of communicating with customers? Who contacts your IT support or cybersecurity provider? Do drills to make sure everyone knows what to do in the plan.

Put money into training and making employees aware

Your employees can be the best or worst part of your security. To make a business that can handle cyber attacks, small businesses need a full cyber security training program. Training should happen all the time, not just once, and it should cover:

• Finding phishing emails and links that look fishy.
• Making passwords that are strong and one-of-a-kind.
• Why it is important to keep your data safe and private.
• Safe use of company devices and networks, especially for people who work from home.
• Policies and procedures for keeping the company safe.

Use real-world examples and quizzes to make training interesting. Send fake phishing emails to employees on a regular basis to see how aware they are and give them feedback right away.

Set up plans for backing up and restoring data

If you get hit by ransomware, a hardware failure, or a natural disaster, having reliable data backups will keep you safe. You need a plan that lets you quickly get your important data back and get back to work. The 3-2-1 rule is a good way to stay cyber resilient:

• You should have at least three copies of your data.
• Put the copies on two different kinds of media, like a local hard drive and a cloud service.
• Store one copy in a safe place outside of your home, like the cloud or a secure physical location.

Make sure your backups are working by testing them often and making sure you can get data back from them. A backup that you can’t restore is useless.

Keeping and improving your cyber resilience

Cyber resilience isn’t something you can do once and be done with. It’s an ongoing process of getting better in response to a threat landscape that is always changing.

• Regular Security Audits: Check your security controls, policies, and plans from time to time to make sure they are still working. This might mean doing internal reviews or hiring someone else to do a vulnerability assessment.
• Stay Up to Date: Stay up to date on the latest cybersecurity news and threats that are popping up. Small businesses can get useful alerts and advice from organizations like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
• Keep getting better: Use the information you get from security audits, reviews of how you respond to incidents, and feedback from employees to improve your cyber resilience plan. Your security needs to change as technology and threats do.

Your Way to a Safe Business

It may seem like a lot of work to make your business cyber resilient, but it’s a necessary step for the future of your company. You can greatly lower your risk of cyber threats by taking a structured approach that includes assessing your risks, putting in place basic controls, training your team, and making plans for incidents.

Take small, easy-to-handle steps at first. Start with the most important risks and work your way up to more defenses. Keep in mind that the goal is not to be impossible to break into, but to be ready, able to respond quickly, and able to bounce back from any problem. Taking a proactive approach to cybersecurity will not only protect your assets, but it will also help you gain your customers’ trust and give you an edge over your competitors.

If you don’t know where to start or need help making a personalized cybersecurity plan, Business Kiwi is here to help. We help small businesses deal with the complicated world of cybersecurity and come up with strong plans for staying safe. Call us to set up a meeting to find out how we can help your business stay safe and successful for a long time.