The Surrey startup scene is thriving, brimming with innovative ideas and promising ventures. But with great opportunities come great responsibilities, especially when it comes to safeguarding your business in the digital age. Cyber security threats are a constant reality. And taking proactive measures to protect your valuable data and systems, therefore, is one of the most crucial things for any organisation.
Whether you already have a good idea about cyber security or you’re a novice in this department, our guide today aims to help you better understand the nuances and complexities involved. By the end of this article, you’ll have a pretty clear idea of what to do and how, alongside some valuable, actionable, and practical tips that you can go for right now.
So, without further ado, let’s dive right into it!
Startups Cybersecurity
Agility and innovation are the most important factors in the world of startups and entrepreneurship. But time and again, the common practice of neglecting cyber security leaves new businesses vulnerable to data breaches, financial losses, and reputational damage.
What magnifies the problem further is that the reputation of the company takes a serious hit. As we all know, a young company simply cannot afford that.
The way out? Startups need to prioritise cybersecurity from the get-go. You need to be proactive in your approach. It all begins with establishing a strong foundation for secure growth. The best part is that it also helps build trust with your customers.
Risk Mitigation
Think of cyber security as building a fortress around your data. Now, fortifying defences isn’t that hard a job, but it’s not as straightforward as a lot of other business processes. That’s why you need the help of specialists, more often than not. Some steps are fairly simple, such as implementing strong passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA), but others can take a while, even for an expert.
Here’s a quick summary of the most popular and effective risk mitigation steps that you should consider strongly:
First of all, set up strong passwords and MFA in as many places as possible. Strong passwords are one of the most crucial cyber essentials for Surrey startups. Complex and unique passwords are your first line of defence. Do not use common words or figures that can be guessed easily, such as using the word “Marketing” in your passwords if you’re running a Surrey marketing agency.
Strong, random passwords can be generated using password generators but you can also just stitch together random English words, such as PaperRobotGrapevineYellow. A brute force attack might be able to guess a string of random characters such as Af82HW#%*(#hjoseE, but it will take a significantly longer amount of time to crack just four random English words. At 1000 guesses per second, an attack on a weak remote server will require just three days to guess a password like Tr0ub4dor&3. But if you take four random English words, the entropy increases a lot. At the same speed, it will take 550 years for the same attack to crack it.
Educating your employees about strong passwords and other threats is also critical. Not everyone is well-versed in cyber security in Surrey. For example, a lot of people still click on suspicious emails, download shady attachments, cannot identify phishing attempts, or just fail to report security concerns. Provide proper training and make sure they’re equipped with the right knowledge.
Next up, it’s important to invest in the right security software – it’s another one of the cyber essentials. These include firewalls, antiviruses, and anti-malware apps on all devices. Your entire network is only as safe as its weakest link – keep this in mind!
Your last line of defence is backup. Regular data backups might sound boring to a startup in Surrey. However, it’s extremely important to get into the habit of taking multiple cloud and physical backups of all of your data for redundancy. You will thank yourself later.
Secure Development Practices
Imagine building a house with a strong foundation. Secure development practices are like the foundation for your applications and systems.
But how do you go about doing that?
As it turns out, it’s more of a conceptual thing than an actual set of practices to follow. Whatever your development methodology or workflow is, and regardless of what tools you use, just make sure that the central idea of security measures throughout the development lifecycle is there at all levels.
Every startup is different. As such, every startup faces unique vulnerabilities. You can only build your defences from the ground up when you follow secure development practices and adhere to some core principles on all levels.
Cloud Security Considerations
The cloud offers a bunch of advantages, especially for startups. It makes your life easier and helps in running all processes at a fraction of the cost of investing in dedicated servers (and cooling them in the Surrey summer). At the same time, it brings a host of security considerations.
Without wasting much time, here’s how to go about the cloud:
- Only choose among well-known providers with a proven track record of robust cyber security practices and compliance with data protection regulations.
- Understand your cloud security responsibilities; don’t fully rely on the cloud provider.
- Many cloud providers offer security tools like data encryption and access controls. Use as many of them as possible.
Incident Response Planning
All that being said, cyber threats can still arise even with the best precautions and guardrails in place. That’s where a detailed incident response plan comes into the picture. It helps you react better when a security breach occurs and also potentially minimises damage.
A good incident response plan begins with the steps for the identification, containment, mitigation, and recovery from a cyberattack. It also includes the roles and responsibilities and who is responsible for each stage of the process.
Once you have the plan, make sure everyone has access to it and regularly test it.
Wrapping Up
No cyber security effort is a one-time fix. You need to continually monitor and adapt your practices, learn from your mistakes, and remain cautious (especially with sensitive data). Stay vigilant, embrace new security solutions, and foster a culture of cyber awareness within your team. Only proactive approaches succeed in safeguarding valuable data. Better begin now!
