Security
For a growing number of Norwegian companies, there is immense value in the digital sphere – and so it stands to reason that you won’t want to miss out on having access to it. According to figures from Microsoft, 71 per cent of those experiencing attempted breaches by cybercriminals are small businesses. Suffering such a breach could have enormous operational and financial consequences for your company.
You should therefore ensure that the following security measures are in place at your company:
- Use secure and unique passwords that cannot be guessed or used across different services – especially not across personal and work-related services.
- Introduce mandatory two-factor authentication for all web-based services used by your company. This reduces the risk of your company being attacked by a full 90 per cent, according to Microsoft.
- Protect your wireless network with a secure password that is not shared widely – and preferably create a guest network with limited access to the rest of your network.
- If you work outside the office, you should be aware that what you send over open wireless networks can potentially be read by others. Use the mobile network, or use a VPN solution that encrypts your data traffic to prevent others reading it.
- Establish good procedures for storing and sharing information. The systems you choose as standard for the business should be easy for all employees to understand and to use – to prevent them turning to their own services and solutions that are beyond the company’s control.
- Be aware! No security measure is stronger than the weakest link, and for that reason it is important that employees have clear guidelines and do not, for example, open suspect e-mails indiscriminately. This also requires the company’s management to be aware of issues related to security, and to take them seriously.
The Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM) recommends the following four measures. These stop 90 % of cyber attacks*:
- Upgrade all hardware and software
- Install security software updates as quickly as possible
- Do not allocate administrator rights to end users
- Block the running of unauthorised software
*Source: https://www.nsm.stat.no/virksomhetssikkerhet/fire-enkle-tiltak-stopper-90-prosent-av-dataangrep/
Do you want to learn more about security and establish memorable rules for your business? Take this introduction to cyber security (in Norwegian).
Watch this video from Frend too about basic security for SMEs (in Norwegian).