How to Start a Cybersecurity Program For Your Small Business

Begin by protecting your customer data with SecurityMetrics Pulse

For many small business owners, cybersecurity budgets can be very limited. Restraints like capital, time, labor, and money are oftentimes the primary reasons why some small business owners postpone implementing any sort of essential cybersecurity protections beyond the basics.

The good news is that any sort of small cyber step will ultimately make a world of difference in keeping the hackers out of your business.

One Small Cyber Step for Security Fundamentals

You can begin your small business cybersecurity journey with these five easy-to-follow recommendations:

1. Teach Employees to Avoid Phishing
   Harmful links, SMS phishing texts, or attachments could provide unauthorized doorways into your business data. Worse yet is when your network becomes infected with malware. To help make phishing awareness as simple and low cost as possible, SecurityMetrics offers free courses to learn the basics of data security and a weekly Threat Intelligence News email which highlights examples of the latest phishing attacks targeting small businesses.
2. Require Stronger Passwords
   This is one of the easiest ways for a small business to protect themselves from bad guys who often use brute force password-guessing techniques or automated hacking tools.
3. Require Multi-Factor Authentication
   Go beyond strong passwords by requiring the use of an authenticator app, fingerprint reader, access card, or at a minimum, a texted code.
4. Update your Software (and Remove Old Apps that are No Longer Used)
   We often see small businesses running outdated software, which means they are vulnerable to an attack. New vulnerabilities to software are always introduced. It’s crucial to stay on top of your IT staff to know when the latest patches are made for the software, hardware, and digital assets in your environment so it can be updated.
5. Review and Reduce Administrative Privileges
   Don’t let employees have access to more than they need to do their job. If sensitive business data is no longer part of an employee's role, remove access. If an employee no longer works for you, be sure to remove their access.

In today’s environment, you will need to consider going beyond these basic cyber hygiene steps to more essential cybersecurity. We often hear from clients who tell us that their business is too small to be targeted by a threat actor. The reality is that small businesses are often attacked more, and the statistics back this up. Check out 53 small business cybersecurity statistics that will absolutely motivate you into action. Did you know that 46% of all cyber attacks target small businesses with less than 1,000 employees?

Beyond Cyber Basics to the Essentials

For next-level cyber protection, one avenue should be considered is a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solution. The challenge for any small business is finding the perfect MDR solution based on your unique business needs.

Gartner recommends these solutions for MDR, which are a great resource for organizations with larger budgets and great cybersecurity needs, but they don’t suit most small businesses. There are some free options available, but piecing free tools together is time consuming and may not be enough to protect your business.

Introducing SecurityMetric Pulse: A cybersecurity program for your small business

For the last 20 years, SecurityMetrics has been a dominant leader in small business data security. We are experts on small business data security and understand that many small businesses may not have the resources, capital, and staff necessary to build a dedicated team for in-house cybersecurity.

While we are known for having tested over a million payment systems with our world-class PCI compliance services, we also have a variety of small business cybersecurity offerings.

Building on the knowledge and experience we’ve gained while working with small businesses over the years, we created SecurityMetrics Pulse. This is the one-stop platform for SMBs who want to bridge the gap between having essential small business coverage, protect your data while keeping security expenses low, and maximizing limited IT staff cybersecurity skills.

SecurityMetrics Pulse offers essential small business cybersecurity coverage:

• Live threat hunters who protect your business from cyber attacks
• Access to a world class managed security operations center (SOC)
• Security analysts who have the latest SMB threat knowledge and understand threat actors’ tactics
• Internal and external vulnerability assessment capabilities
• Endpoint protection and threat detection services
• Guided client response to your discovered threats
• Security services that can be fully customizable based on your budget and business needs

Pulse Pricing Helps Small Businesses Kickstart the Essential Cyber Journey

Unlike most cybersecurity companies that only focus on helping large corporations become secure, SecurityMetrics has always focused on providing cybersecurity services that will not break the small business bank. We designed Pulse to offer tremendous value and immediate return on investment to every small business.

Pulse plans start at just $209/month per location.

Here’s How Pulse Secures Your Business:

Managed Threat Detection

USA-based (Utah) security operations center (SOC) Analysts use industry-leading security tools to monitor and analyze your network traffic (netflow logs). Once a threat is discovered, you are notified and provided with advice and guidance how to resolve the alert quickly. Customers can also have SOC analysts monitor endpoints as noted below.

External and Internal Vulnerability Scan

With Pulse, your staff now gain access to an advanced scan engine known for its industry-leading capabilities. Our vulnerability assessment engine is continuously fine-tuned to effectively identify vulnerabilities that could potentially compromise your system. It detects top risks such as misconfigured firewalls, malware threats, vulnerabilities in remote access, default credentials, open ports, and known vulnerabilities (CVEs). Importantly, this scanning tool assists in your PCI DSS and HIPAA compliance requirements.

Endpoint Protection and Threat Detection

Endpoint security includes both protection and detection of all your locations. Devices within your network at every location can detect and protect you from the newest threats, such as malware, ransomware, trojans, viruses, and exploits. Our endpoint anti-ransomware technology will detect malicious encryption processes, while the endpoint security tools will stop these malicious activities from spreading across your network and all your business locations.

Security Consultations

1-hour monthly threat consultations are available for you and your staff. These consultation phone or video calls will discuss your small business security posture, review your monthly security report, and provide the correct security advice, guidance, and assistance necessary to show meaningful progress in protecting your business.

Essential Small Business Security Made Easy

Pulse was designed to provide essential cybersecurity coverage for small businesses without breaking the bank. Pulse offers small businesses with limited IT staff an easy-to-use, security platform with an array of services to complement your business needs. As a bonus, small businesses now have access to expert security knowledge that is just a short call away, all provided at a value price point.

To see a live demonstration of how Pulse secures small businesses, get a quote, or learn about our packaged offerings, visit the SecurityMetrics Pulse website.