5 Ways to Build Your SMB Cybersecurity Strategy

Small and medium-sized businesses may assume cyber attackers spend most of their time going after much bigger fish, but that's not true. Often, malicious actors go after organizations they see as easier targets – that is, businesses that don't have the resources to mount a robust cybersecurity defense. In fact, seventy percent of ransomware attacks in 2021 targeted businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Today, particularly as more employees are working from home than ever, nothing is more critical than a strong cybersecurity strategy and its complementary tools. Here's why it's time to ramp up yours and how you can do it on a modest budget.

Overlooking cybersecurity isn't just risky, it's expensive  

If you're concerned about the global economic forecast, you're probably looking for ways to trim your budget instead of adding new line items to it. It's good business sense to perform a careful cost-benefit analysis before approving any new investments, including cybersecurity improvements. As you do, though, also factor in the risk of not investing. Not prioritizing cybersecurity may seem financially advantageous in the short term, but this decision can also be incredibly expensive – to the point of threatening the viability of the business itself – and the bill might come due sooner than you think. Chances are, your company doesn't have a spare $3 million lying around. Yet cyber attacks cost small and medium businesses an average of $2.98 million and $164 per breached record. Even companies that carry cyber insurance aren't prepared for an unplanned expenditure of this magnitude – just 14% of them have policies that cover over $600,000 in costs. What's more, the average claim cost for a small or medium business increased by 58% from 2021-2022. That's a staggering amount of financial exposure, and the risk is only increasing by the year. The best way to protect your business is by making strategic, cost-effective cybersecurity investments now. How to cost-effectively strengthen your cybersecurity  You can strengthen your current cybersecurity, and you don't need the resources of a large organization to do it. These five tips can help your small business bolster its cybersecurity without breaking the bank. 

1. Carry out regular backups

Every small business should be completing regular backups, regardless of the cybersecurity threats it faces. Without reliable backups, a company is vulnerable to data loss in the event of a failure, an emergency, and – yes – a cyber attack. If you have regular backups in place and frequently test them to make sure they are working correctly, then you'll be in a far less precarious position if a cyber criminal tries to hold your data hostage in a ransomware attack.  Make sure that, as part of your backup schedule, you have data backups securely stored offline in a location hackers cannot reach (this technique is known as air gapping). Insider threats, though rare, also threaten small businesses. So, confirm that only employees with the proper authorization have digital or physical access to your data backups.

2. Invest in a password manager 

A password manager protects your business from cyber attacks and the financial damage they cause. It gives your employees a secure vault where they can store all of their passwords, alerts them when one of those passwords is weak or has been compromised, and can even auto-generate a new password to replace it. A password manager also trains your employees in good password hygiene over time, and it provides your IT team better tools for enforcing security policies. These capabilities not only improve your cybersecurity, but they also save your employees time and lighten the load for your IT professionals.

3. Take advantage of MFA

By enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) on as many business accounts, apps, and systems as possible, you can make it much harder for an opportunistic hacker to target your company. When MFA is enabled on an account, anyone attempting to log into that account must provide another form (or factor) of authentication in order to prove their identity. This factor may be a code provided via an authenticator app, email, or SMS. It may even be a biometric form of authentication, such as a fingerprint.  When a bad actor tries to log in as one of your employees and they encounter an MFA challenge, they won't be able to get in without that additional form of authentication. Even better, your employee will get a heads up that someone's trying to log in as them. This way, they'll have a chance to alert IT that something dodgy is going on, then take quick action to protect their work accounts and crucial business data.

4. Train your employees

If your employees don't know how to spot a phishing attack, your business could fall victim to a cyber attack before anyone even knows what has happened. But with regular security awareness training, including for new employees, you can give your employees the knowledge they need to protect themselves, your company, and your customers. 

This is all the more important in today's work-from-anywhere world, where many employees are working from home and may feel a false sense of security in that familiar environment. As new kinds of threats emerge, such as phishing attacks that arrive in social media direct messages or even on Discord servers, be sure to refresh your training accordingly. 

5. Conduct a security audit

With a limited budget, you have to make hard decisions about where to invest your limited resources. A security audit will help you understand where your weakest links are, so you can prioritize your spending accordingly. Among other things, your audit should look at where your critical business is stored, whether that's in the cloud or on premises, as well as the security controls that govern who can access it. 

Protect your small business from cyber threats

Once you've taken these five steps, consider building on your achievements. You can create an incident response plan that determines in advance how you will respond to a cyber attack, for example. Cyber insurance may also be worth exploring as a risk management option.  Whatever best practices you choose to adopt, slow and steady progress is key to protecting your small business from cyber threats. With a commitment to keeping your cybersecurity strategy up to date, you'll have a much better chance of avoiding a costly cyber attack. Learn how LastPass can help you tackle and build your SMB’s cybersecurity strategy.