Cyber Security - our guides to stay safe online

Today, the Government National Cyber Security Centre sets out further guidance and policies to protect your data. We also need to be mindful that we do simple things to protect ourselves and our business. 

At Tech ICS, we take security very seriously and we run pro-active programs to ensure our customers are protected. We hope you will find this useful and protect your data, to ensure those are not lost in the cyber world. 

You do not need to be spending extra funds to protect your data, so we have put together a booklet of guidance that you should follow. 

Running prevention mode

1. In most cases, your staff may use passwords that they use for all logins. Make sure they don’t do this, and you enforce that rule. If there is a data breach somewhere else, then surely passwords will be on the web for someone to use and log in to your systems. 

2. Are you and your staff trained on phishing scams by emails, phone calls and texts? Most scams occur through emails and text, so be careful. Ensure staff are trained and can deal with these quite promptly. 

3. Do you have a cyber security policy? A lot of the businesses we help, at the time of their data breach, do not have a policy in place and their staffs are not aware, how to ensure they don’t place their customers and the business at risk. You should know where there can be data leaks and having a policy, starts you to think before something goes wrong. 

4. How do you store your data? If this is on the cloud, usually your service provider will backup the data but if you hold this locally, ensure you have a system in place. Restoring data is difficult and if you are still on paper or desktop applications, you run the risk of losing your customer data. 

Using tools to protect your business

There are several free tools that you can use to protect your business. 

Always read up about the tool before you either download or complete a purchase. Most tools are readily available, some are free but can you trust those? We advise considering downloading tools that are free from trusted sources.

We have added a few to the list which is as follows:

1. Microsoft Essential – one of the best tools to use. A comprehensive. Here is where you can download from - https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=5201. 
2. You can also download Avast, which is a good tool to use. Here is a link to this - https://www.avast.com/c-virus-removal-tool. 
3. Malware Bytes are one of the best free tools to use. Download here https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download. 

Think physical

Most businesses forget the physical aspects of their security. Data breaches are usually done by colleagues or contractors, who don’t follow a policy or don’t have one to follow. 

They may use their laptops or computers for personal use, which is one of the common grounds of data breaches. Another way is using external devices, so having the above tools installed will ensure that any devices they use to transport data are secure and virus-free. 

Keep your business website safe

There are a number of free SSL that you can get on the web, but when it comes to free, you know that they will not provide full protection. Buying an SSL which is yearly, provides your business website with security, and builds trust with your customers. More about this can be found here https://retail.techics.com/product-category/security/ssl/. 

We hope the above gives you a guide to follow, to ensure you keep your business, your colleagues and your brand safe. More information about the products we offer can be found on https://retail.techics.com. You can also read more about us on www.techics.com. 

Get in touch with us if you have any questions at info@techics.com. 

Thank you.

Tech ICS Product & Innovation Team