As October marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month in Canada, statistics show small businesses have a lot to do to shore up their defences against online threats. And those threats are noteworthy. For instance, according to the Blakes Cybersecurity Group’s 2022 Cybersecurity Trends Study: Ransomware is the leading type of cybersecurity incident affecting 55% of Canadian businesses The amount of ransom payments made by affected companies is commonly over US$1 million Phishing accounts for 38% of cyber-attacks 24% of Canadian businesses suffered a malware attack For more

1. 07
CYBERSECURITY
TIPS FOR
SMALL
BUSINESSES
Source : www.zensurance.com

2. KEEP SYSTEMS AND SOFTWARE UP TO
DATE
Applying required patches to software,
updating web browsers and operating
systems to deploying antivirus software
and firewalls, it’s vital to ensure there are
no weak links across your network.

3. TRAIN YOUR EMPLOYEES
Train employees on recommended
cybersecurity best practices. Limit
employees access to information to the
data and systems they need to do their
jobs. They shouldn’t have access to data
and systems that aren’t required for their
roles in your business.

4. CREATE STRONG PASSWORDS AND USE
MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION
Ensure you create strong email
passwords that are unique and difficult to
figure out by using numbers, letters, and
symbols. taking advantage of multi-factor
authentication is an effective way to help
thwart an attack.

5. BACKUP YOUR MISSION-CRITICAL
DATA
It’s wise to automate and regularly back
up your organization’s data and store
copies offsite and in the cloud. Everything
from financial files, employee data,
documents and spreadsheets, and
databases should be backed up at least
once a week.

6. USE A VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK
A VPN is affordable for small businesses,
and required if your employees work
remotely. VPNs establish secure network
connections by encrypting your online
traffic and disguising your identity by
hiding your IP address.

7. USE DIGITAL PAYMENT BEST
PRACTICES
Keep your point-of-sale (POS) payment
system isolated from your other systems,
and avoid using the same laptop or
computer you use for processing payments
to surf the internet.

8. GET CYBER LIABILITY INSURANCE
Cyber liability insurance provides you with
a wide range of support if you suffer any
cyber-attack. It includes funds to repair
and restore your affected software
systems, coverage for legal advice, credit
monitoring and crisis management
services, and coverage for financial losses
you sustain due to a system outage
resulting from an attack.

9. WEAREINSTASAFE
InstaSafe empowers organizations in their digital
transformation journey, by enabling secure access
of enterprise applications to users, with enhanced
security, seamless experience, and minimal risk.
As an industry pioneer in Zero Trust, human-
centric solutions, we, at InstaSafe have backed
thebelief that at the center of security for
businesseslies the ability to enable workforces to
unleash their potential, irrespective of where they
are. Which is why we help organizations in fulfilling
their goal of productivity on scale, by simplifying
the challenge of ACCESS.
With our hyperscalable and modular solutions, we
aim to make the cloud and remote journey for
businesses and workforces, much simpler, and
much more secure.