Getting internet security right for your small business | BUSINESS ...

Every business, regardless of size, needs to secure its information, yet small businesses have the more specific challenge of keeping their information and data secure by using inexpensive and easy to use tools. It?s a fact that even though you can use a computer with ease it doesn?t mean you are a computer geek in any shape or form, so here are a few tips to getting the internet security right for a small business.

Any computer that connects to the Internet is susceptible to attacks from outsiders, or hackers. They know how to search for those with weak security and exploit this vulnerability by accessing it and helping themselves, via the Internet connection, to the information and data that is stored there. A firewall is the first line of protection in internet security as by restricting the travel of incoming and outgoing data is helps to prevent the probe from the hacker.

A firewall effectively locks the open door that is the Internet connection and only data that has been approved by the firewall is allowed to travel in or out, blocking the hacker. There are several firewall softwares in existence, including built in ones that simply need switching on and free ones that are readily available and can be quickly downloaded.

The second part of securing your computer is to install encryption software. As data, as well as sensitive and confidential information, is saved on a computers hard drive, the easiest way to protect this and make it unreadable to others is to encrypt it. It can only be un-encrypted and made readable again by a person in possession of the correct password. Free encryption tools are readily available and are easily installed, whatever your technical ability.

Back up is essential should your business lose data for any reason. The easiest way to do this is to copy all important emails, files etc onto removable storage devices, such as a flash drive, on a regular basis. If you have this kind of insurance and suffer a loss of data, you will have everything there to hand to continue running your business with as little interruption as possible.

Never under estimate the importance of an anti-virus software, many have in the past and paid the price. Even the most careful of users can fall victim to a virus, and hackers can send these nasties to you in the form of email attachments or even through websites. They will delete data, rewrite data and spread through your network like wildfire. There is no need to spend a fortune on anti-virus either, as the free ones are now better than ever and perfect for small businesses.

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