Best Practices for Keeping Your Business Virus Free

All businesses rely on their technology. Whether you’ve got an office setup or your employees are increasingly working from home, it’s vital to maintain the health of your computers, apps, and programs.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to get hacked or accidentally end up with a virus or malware that exploits your clients’ information. It happens to the biggest companies in the world. However, it’s the small, medium, and otherwise independently-owned businesses that really suffer the consequences when they experience a digital security breach.

Here are some best practices for keeping your business virus-free. Even if your team is working from home, it’s a good idea to pass these tips along so that they can continue to keep your business’ information safe while working remotely.

Use Strong Passwords

This seems like a no-brainer, but let’s face it: most people choose simple passwords. This is not a good idea when you have sensitive information to protect. It’s important that all email accounts, as well as logins to any apps or programs, are encrypted with complicated passwords that utilize a series of numbers, letters, and symbols. All passwords should be changed every three months. No employee should share their password with anyone else.

Use One Server

There are many different options for file-sharing programs. It’s best to make sure that you use just one program for file-sharing, so that all of your business documents are in one secure place. Set up strong passwords to protect your file-sharing servers so that no one is able to hack into them.

Avoid Pop-ups, Unfamiliar Emails, and Links

Everyone on your staff could use a reminder that they should avoid clicking any unnecessary popups, emails or links that could contain viruses or malware. Beware of phishing – a tactic often used to get private information from unsuspecting workers. Make sure that your employees know that they shouldn’t share any private information over phone or email. Phishing tactics have become quite advanced.

Have a Backup

Just in case anything gets deleted, or you do suffer a security breach, make sure you have a current backup of all of your files. Nothing is worse than discovering all of your information is lost because of a hacker or virus. This way, you can at least negate the damage quickly.

Protect Your Payment Processors

If you deal with financial information through email, make sure to set it up so that both employees and clients need a password to access any financial information or receipts. If you have a payroll system or other payment system (such as credit card processing) these programs must be secured and password protected.

Have an IT Team Help

If you’re particularly concerned about your business’s privacy practices, you can employ the help of a professional IT team. At Internal Computer Services, we have been working with small and large companies in the greater Richmond area to strengthen their security and data privacy practices. Give us a call at 804-672-1052 and speak to a friendly expert about how you can improve your company’s practices for staying virus-free.