This week, The Journal published a helpful review to help schools prepare for a cyberattack on their networks. As you might expect, both public and private schools lack the funding and infrastructure to employ an entire team of information technology experts. However, schools also house a wealth of personal information within their databases. Everything from student Social Security numbers to parental payment information could be at risk, making schools a tempting target for cyber criminals.
Much like many school systems, a smaller business often does not possess significant resources. And like many school systems, small businesses are often the target of cyberattacks. The cost of these attacks can far outweigh the resources needed to remedy the problem. Fewer resources or not, you still need protection for the sensitive data housed within your network. The last thing you want is to disappoint clients or embarrass yourself, but you can’t employ an IT team either!
That’s why the methods used by school systems can also apply to small business. As The Journal states, “CoSN’s chief cybersecurity advisor, Amy McLaughlin, helps school districts identify and deploy the security elements they need to secure their infrastructure and school networks as much as possible with limited resources.” McLaughlin says, “In the world of cybersecurity, there really isn’t any reason to reinvent the wheel; there are some very good frameworks available to districts that make best IT security practices easy to follow.”
In other words, you don’t need to hire your own team of dedicated employees in order to protect your network and equipment. But you do need to adopt a framework for doing so, and plenty of those already exist. What works for most other organizations should work for you, assuming you assess and address any unique risks you might have.
On that note, give us a call at 888-RING-MY-TECH for more information on the protective frameworks we have already developed for our small business customers. We can answer your questions about preventing a cyberattack, help you assess your own risks, and develop a plan to protect your company as well as your clients.
