Cyber Breach Basics. It Could Never Happen To Me!

This is the majority response from many business owners when questioned about their Cyber Security protocol. Followed quickly by “We’re not a big enough company to worry about it”. The truth is, if your business uses a computer and it connects to the world wide web, your business is at risk of a cyber breach. The question really isn’t will you be breached, but when?

Stats Canada reports that about 20% of businesses have had some form of cyber breach. This number is probably higher as the assumption is, most companies have been breached it’s just not been discovered yet.

While it’s widely thought that cyber breaches are an IT issue, it’s rapidly becoming more of a finance issue. A breach in your own financial data could have potentially damaging results. A breach to your customers data would not only be damaging to the customer, it could have critical repercussions for your own business relations. 

AMS Digital utilizes a select range of security protocols during every stage of our onboarding procedure. We routinely run data breach testing scenarios to evaluate our own systems, and vault technologies to secure our customers most sensitive information.

Big or small businesses should consider implementing the following basic steps when considering a data breach plan;

1. Evaluate – Review how you are currently handling various data sources. A data source could include, passwords, financial information, customer information, and even software used to run various critical business functions.
2. Isolate – Where is your weakness? This could be as simple as exposing your information on an unsecured network, or not routinely backing up.
3. Implement – A data breach plan and ensure it’s followed by everyone in your organization. 

Remember, a breach can happen to anyone at any time. With just a bit of planning you can minimize the potential destructive results to your business.