In the last year alone, more than 80% of UK businesses, charities, and third-sector organisations experienced a cyber-attack, highlighting just how significant of a threat cybercrime is.

The phrase fail to prepare, prepare to fail is very fitting when it comes to SMEs and cyber, because sooner or later your business will become a victim of a cyber-attack if you fail to put defences in place to stop cybercriminals.

Cyber security is not just for your IT team, everybody involved in a business should understand the basics of cyber security and the role they play in keeping themselves and others safe. Cyber-attacks can lead to customers losing trust in an organisation, negative financial consequences, and reputational damage.

Cyber-attacks are often completely preventable; the following 7 simple steps could be all it takes to protect your business:

• Take regular backups of your important data, and test that they can be restored.
• Keep your smartphones and tablets safe by switching on PIN/password/fingerprint recognition for mobile devices and by using the automatic update option if available.
• Prevent malware damage by using antivirus software on all devices, only install approved software and prevent users from downloading third-party apps from unknown sources.
• Avoid phishing attacks by ensuring staff don’t browse the web or check emails from an account with Administrator privileges, scan for malware and change passwords as soon as possible.
• Use strong passwords to protect your data and change manufacturers’ default passwords that devices are issued with.
• Turn on two-factor authentication for all accounts where possible.
• Consider using a password manager, if you do use one make sure that the master password is a strong one.

To help you to guard your business against cyber-attacks the police-led SECRC offers a free membership package. It is hassle-free and doesn’t commit you to anything that you’ll later be charged for. Join today at www.secrc.co.uk/membership.