Why is Cyber Security Important to Business?

In today’s world, security against cyberattacks is becoming more and more challenging to manage. This is due to the fact that cyber attackers constantly change methods of executing attacks that are unpredictable. The main threats to business from cyberattacks are:

• Systems Work Sabotage (Denial of Services); and
• Data Security Compromise That Includes Personal Data And Other Confidential Data For Clients, Such As trade secrets.

Many business owners believe their businesses are too small to attract the interest of cybercriminals, but software known as “malware” enables attacks on large numbers of computers. “Ransomware” is a virus that disables access to data on a victim’s computer until ransom is paid. If businesses do not take precautions to protect their data, it may be that the designated client will no longer purchase business services and may continue to cooperate with the competition. In business this affects cash flow, reputation damage and businesses can be sued.

In addition to hackers and attacks from abroad, various criminals tend to take notes on your clients either through “insiders” or through non-loyal workers who will attempt to misuse this data for personal gain.

Many business owners ask me how to address security aspects. I always recommend working on educating and raising awareness of company staff. Some of the measures I recommend are listed below:

• Establish clear information security policies and be the example that they will follow. Talk to colleagues constantly about the security of your data and your clients;
• Njoftoni stafin për kërcënimet e mundshme (e-mail scams, phishing, virus, trojan);
• It’s just a system administrator whose password is stored in a sealed envelope;
• Beware of downloading suspicious software or those not directly related to the work being done;
• Set password policies that need to be changed every 3 months. Passwords cannot be written on letters and placed at the corner of the monitor;
• Each time the staff leaves the computer, the screen should be locked;
• Do not use USB. If necessary, use USB encrypting data;
• Make acceptance / surrender procedures for outgoing workers and acceptance of access to information systems as part of the dismissal;
• Back up all notes and save them to another location;
• Test procedures from time to time and advance;

Fortunately in our company we use QuickBooks® Online to enable us and our clients to have data protection against such attacks where data is encrypted to the highest standard SSL 256. The American Institute of Certified Accountants has established regulations and standards to protect CLOUD data to which QuickBooks® Online is also subject. By these standards, companies entrusted with sensitive financial data have no error tolerance, and the protection of this data is very strict and with strict legislation. Any user who has access to the system (according to certain privileges) leaves a trace of any action he/she makes on the system and at any time the known audit trail report can be extracted. In the event of damage or theft of your computer / laptop, your and your customers’ data is secure and you will have access at any time from any other device, you only need internet access. Also your data is stored in different geographical locations so that in case of an elementary disaster the data is returned and the system becomes very fast.

These are some of the reasons why using cloud-based accounting and finance management platforms such as QuickBooks® Online help businesses avoid various attacks and provide high data security.