When was the last time you checked how secure your business is online? If you\u2019re like most small business owners, the honest answer is probably: \u201cEr\u2026 never?\u201d Or maybe you did something once, ages ago, and haven\u2019t thought about it since. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, cyber criminals are constantly looking for easy targets and they often use the same public information you and I can see to figure out where to poke. A cyber audit is your way of seeing what they might see and fixing it before they get in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The good news is you don\u2019t need to be an IT genius or know a bunch of technical jargon to do one. And you can get started for free! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has a brilliant free service called Check your cyber security.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s\u00a0how it works:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0 At the end, you get a simple traffic-light rating for each so you know what needs immediate attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sounds boring, but\u00a0stick with us! Think about the journey your customer takes, so things like:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n At each step, ask yourself \u201cWhere\u2019s the risk?\u201d Is their info safe? Who can see it? Could someone get hold of it if they really tried? If you\u2019re not sure about these areas, it\u2019s worth talking to professionals (like us!) who can help you ensure that your customer\u2019s data is secure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Passwords <\/p>\n\n\n\n Are they strong? Are they different for each system? Do you use two-factor authentication (that code you get by text or app)? Use our handy password guide to make sure your passwords are strong enough and following best practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Backups <\/p>\n\n\n\n If your main system died today, could you get everything back? Do you know how long it would take? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Continuity plan <\/p>\n\n\n\n If something went wrong, who does what? Is that written down anywhere? (If not, that\u2019s a problem.) For more help on creating a disaster recovery plan, you can check out our guide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cyber security shouldn\u2019t just be one person\u2019s job, your whole company should be clued up on the dos and don\u2019ts! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a really practical exercise you can run through with your team and build into your audit: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Scenario run-through<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pick a few common risks and run a quick \u201cwhat would you do?\u201d session with your team. For example: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Document the answers<\/p>\n\n\n\n Write down what people say, and compare it to your actual processes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Close the gaps <\/p>\n\n\n\n If what people think they should do isn\u2019t what\u2019s in your policy, or worse, you don\u2019t have a policy, that\u2019s a gap you need to close. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Make it muscle memory <\/p>\n\n\n\n Just like a fire drill, you want the right responses to become habit. The more often you walk through them, the more likely your team will get it right under pressure. The aim here isn\u2019t to catch anyone out, it\u2019s to make sure everyone knows their role and has the confidence to act fast when something\u2019s not right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather than ending up with a messy to-do list, link your findings to something like the NCSC\u2019s Cyber Essentials framework. It covers: <\/p>\n\n\n\n That way you\u2019re not just fixing random problems, you\u2019re covering all the important bases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2023, 32% of UK businesses reported a cyber attack\u00a0in the past year.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0nearly one\u00a0in three.\u00a0A simple, free audit could be the thing that keeps you out of that statistic.\u00a0Contact us<\/a> today\u202fto find out how we can support your organisation\u2019s cybersecurity.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When was the last time you checked how secure your business is online? If you\u2019re like most small business owners, the honest answer is probably: \u201cEr\u2026 never?\u201d Or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crcnetwork-cfkr6.projectbeta.co.uk\/westmidlandscrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crcnetwork-cfkr6.projectbeta.co.uk\/westmidlandscrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crcnetwork-cfkr6.projectbeta.co.uk\/westmidlandscrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crcnetwork-cfkr6.projectbeta.co.uk\/westmidlandscrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crcnetwork-cfkr6.projectbeta.co.uk\/westmidlandscrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/crcnetwork-cfkr6.projectbeta.co.uk\/westmidlandscrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243,"href":"https:\/\/crcnetwork-cfkr6.projectbeta.co.uk\/westmidlandscrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions\/243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crcnetwork-cfkr6.projectbeta.co.uk\/westmidlandscrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crcnetwork-cfkr6.projectbeta.co.uk\/westmidlandscrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crcnetwork-cfkr6.projectbeta.co.uk\/westmidlandscrc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
It looks at three main areas:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Map out how you handle customer\u2019s data <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Check the boring-but-important stuff <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Make cybersecurity a team thing <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Tie it all together with a framework <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Keep it up <\/h2>\n\n\n\n