3 Things Every Business Should Do With Their Computers


Filed under: IT Support


Victoria Rausch
Owner, Davik Inc.

Like most small business owners, you might not picture your business getting hacked. That type of thing only happens to huge corporations like Target or Home Depot, right?

Actually, no. About half of all small businesses have experienced a cyber attack, or will endure one in the near future. You might not store as much information as an enormous, national or international corporation, but hackers also imagine that your defenses are lower. Therefore, your network might be easier to infiltrate… And your data is still plenty valuable.

So, at minimum, make sure you’ve done these three things to protect your computers and data.

Update. Software companies regularly release security updates as they discover vulnerabilities within their products. This pertains to your operating system, your internet browsers, and any other programs used on your machines. If you don’t install the updates, you won’t receive the security patches. So, make sure you’ve set your computers to install updates automatically on a regular basis. If your employees use mobile devices for work, check for updates on those as well.

Back up data. Back up all important data in at least one, but preferably two, modes of storage. For example, you might upload all data to a cloud storage system, but also store a physical copy on a backup drive. It’s even better if you store at least one copy off the premises (in case of fire, flood, or other natural disaster).

Set your computers to perform regular automatic backups according to your business needs. Some companies can get by with a nightly backup while others need to back up data more often.

Limit Access. Limit access to computers and different accounts on a “need to use” basis. Even if you trust someone, you can’t be sure that they won’t unknowingly and accidentally expose your sensitive data. For that matter, your entire network should be locked down with a hard-to-guess password.

Never let anyone access a machine for non-work purposes, and create a company policy regarding device safety. Make sure your employees know they should never allow a friend or family member to use a work device.

Taking these three steps will go a long away toward protecting your devices and data, but we can do even more to help keep you (and your clients) safe. Call Victoria Rausch with Davik Consulting at 888-RING-MY-TECH to determine your network security and data backup needs.