A data breach could cost your small business tens of thousands of pounds in lost revenue, increased customer churn, and legal fees associated with the incident. It’s crucial to do everything you can to protect your customers’ sensitive information to avoid costly breaches down the road. The storage of your customers’ data and the layers of security around it are fundamental to protecting it from potential breaches, and the subsequent cost implications to your small business.
Types of breaches
There are two primary types of data breach: internal and external. Internal breaches come from within an organisation (i.e., human error), while external breaches come from outside organisations (i.e., hacking). Although these are different categories, they both pose serious risks to business security and can potentially lead to legal action if damages occur as a result.
How prepared is your business for a data breach?
According to Databasix1, email phishing is 20% higher in the UK than the global average, with one in every 3,722 emails a phishing attempt. In addition, every 19 seconds, a small UK business is hacked, with 65,000 daily SME business hacking attempts daily.
Shocking statistics, demonstrating the need for small businesses to immediately implement measures to protect their data and that of customers. It’s time to take a look at your systems and ascertain ways in which you can protect your information from these phishing and hacking attempts.
Measures you can take to protect your business from hacking
Strengthen your company’s password policies by ensuring each employee has a unique password, making it harder for hackers to gain access to your systems. Don’t keep any information on file that you wouldn’t want a hacker to get their hands on. If an employee leaves, remove personal information from user accounts as soon as possible.
Education is key: train employees about phishing so they can avoid scams and know who to contact if they receive suspicious emails. Make regular backups of data and keep them for a minimum of two years.
Potential impact and cost implications of a data breach
Not only is there the potential cost of customer litigation, but also the impact of a loss of revenue, customer mistrust, and the overheads of swiftly implementing new security measures post-breach. In the case of data breaches, prevention is always better than cure.