Common Cybersecurity Mistakes.
A startup involves plenty of important decisions like planning the business, marketing strategies to grow the business, getting funds, and many other aspects, which are considered primary for almost all the startups. In between all these important decisions, the importance of cybersecurity can be overlooked. However, overlooking the cybersecurity elements can result in a heavy problem for any business, let alone a startup. Therefore, it is important to take special care of the different cybersecurity essentials. If you have a startup, you must avoid the following five common cybersecurity mistakes.
1. Giving Access Rights To Everyone
While working in a startup, taking care of the administrator’s rights is important. Often, without critical thought, administrative rights are shared with everyone, and this is a mistake that should be avoided at all costs. It is often thought that freely giving access rights avoids the hassle of giving access repeatedly to the required team members. However, it is better to address new requests for access than to give everyone free access. Cyber accidents can be avoided by having strong control over access rights. These rights should be held by only the important people and not by everyone. This will also help improve accountability among team members.
2. Shared password
Sometimes, in order to avoid additional costs, one account is shared amongst multiple team members. Having a shared account means having a shared password too. The higher the shared password, the more the chances of having an incident where the password is compromised. Not only should passwords be kept a secret, but the IP address should also be hidden to ensure digital safety. If you do not know your IP address yet, you can check it on What Is My IP. Giving different employees their unique passwords also helps to identify the source of compromise. Therefore, try to give a unique account with a unique password to all the employees. Also, the workers should be encouraged to have unique and strong passwords. They should be discouraged to keep passwords that are easily guessable.
3. Absence of two-factor authentication
The presence of two-factor authentication is important not only for private accounts but also for work accounts. The absence of two-factor authentication creates more risk of password compromise. To have tight security over a work account, two-factor authentication is a must. The option of having two-factor authentication is not possible for all the software. However, if support or a system supports two-factor authentication, the employees should be encouraged to use it. Two-factor authentication provides an additional layer of security to any account.
4. Keeping the computer or laptop unlocked
While working in an office, it is normal to take a break. While taking a break, many employees do not lock their computer or laptop with the thought that they will be returning to their work desk soon along with another thought that the laptop or computer is safe amongst the other colleagues. However, this is not often the case. Any third party can visit an office, and in the absence of any third-party people, it is equally important to take care of one’s privacy. Encourage the employees to keep the computer or laptop locked when not at their work desks. This is a habit that should be practiced even when one is working remotely from home.
5. Lack of email security
Emails are extremely vulnerable. Most phishing attacks occur through emails, and even with this knowledge, email security is not considered important. Emails are extremely prone to different cyberattacks. According to a DMR report, an average employee receives 120 emails, which might also include phishing emails. Therefore, it is important to focus on email security and help the startup members identify phishing emails.
Another common cybersecurity mistake seen in almost all startups is a lack of security training among the employees. Even though many startups train their employees to acquire new skills, cybersecurity training is commonly overlooked. Lack of cybersecurity results in cyberattacks. Training employees on cybersecurity rules and regulations can be extremely helpful in preventing cyberattacks.
