Cybercrime has the potential to put you out of business. Increasingly, we are seeing companies fall prey to the growing number of ever more sophisticated hacker attacks, which damages their reputation, loses them customers and ultimately, in some cases, forces them to close up shop – all due to largely preventable cybercriminal activities. Why is cybercrime so destructive to business? Well, if a hacker gains access to your network, you risk the breach of financial data and private customer information, as well as downtime, as hackers might take your systems offline and hold them ransom. Thus, a key question for any business owner is: how safe is your IT infrastructure?

It’s never been more important to keep your network safe from a variety of cyber perils. In this article, we take a look at two of the most important preventative measures you can take to help keep your business safe.

Always Download the Latest Security Patch

Cybercriminals these days are a pretty sophisticated bunch. They often have the latest tech and best (albeit misplaced) computer skills, leaving your business vulnerable to their nefarious exploits unless you have sufficient protection. With time on their side, they are adept at uncovering the exposed parts of a target network and use email or exploit backdoor loopholes in software to inject their malware and gain access to your system. Once in control, they can steal data, create general chaos, or even shut things down, and it can all happen so quickly that by the time you notice something’s up, it’s too late.

Most software comes with a layer of security built-in, but there is the possibility that a thus-far-undiscovered security flaw exists. As hackers work on well-known and commonly used software packages, looking for exploits, so the software programmers themselves are continually trying to close those backdoors and make their products watertight. By downloading the latest releases or updates for all your software, you will be doing everything you can to keep your devices and data safe.

If you’re struggling with IT security issues, don’t leave things to chance: source an experienced IT support firm, such as 24×7 IT Solutions, to help you navigate the world of IT security.

Implement a Robust Data Back-Up Procedure

Regularly backing up your data is one of the most proactive tasks you can build into your IT security strategy. Disaster can strike at any time: physical hard drives are known to fail, hackers can steal data or cause it to disappear overnight, and fires can destroy business-critical data. Huge data loss events can only really be mitigated by ensuring you have saved that data to a different location beforehand.

All back-up procedures should look to save data to more than one location. For example, if you save your data to the cloud, perhaps consider also saving to a hard drive that you keep offsite, just in case. Consider making two copies and always test your back-up routines to ensure that data is actually being copied and stored.