IT consultants can benefit from a few of these reminders as they offer services for small business owners:
1. Password Strength: There are a lot of data breaches that will happen simply because a business owner will not use a good password. They will either go with a default password, which can get revealed and exploited as years go on, or they will use passwords which are easy to guess and weak.
Any password that is a single dictionary word that does not have varied characters can be cracked easily even by a novice hacker. Alphanumeric passwords are best, mixing lower case and capital letters, containing a variety of symbols. Prevent online breaches after you have a break in at your store by having a password that is never written down and left out in the open for someone to find.
2. Keep Hardware Up To Date: Machines that are out of date will be a lot easier to bypass than a newer machine. Just weeks away from buying new machines, El Agave Mexican Restaurant located in Fairmont, MN was hit with a breach that involved the stealing of credit card information. Point of sale equipment is not made to last forever, which means that you need to replace it once it is time.
3. Protect Your POS Credentials: This is something that is important for any small business owners as well as POS vendors. After credentials get out into the open, there can be more breaches and the credentials may end up being used on all clients that have the same POS software. Any POS vendors will have to use a smart password protocol or a small business and it is always a good idea to use various passwords for each client instead of using the same for all of them, as this can cause widespread issues.
4. Do Not Web Browse On POS Terminals: Browsing the web on EPOS machines can expose any software vulnerabilities and it could lead to the accidental download of malware through some sort of phishing scam or malicious website. It is best to do all of your website work on another computer or at least restrict what and where your employees are able to browse. Of course, on both your POS terminal and a separate computer, it is a must to have…
5. Quality Antivirus Protection: Any of the practices listed above will not mean anything if you do not have the right protection in place. You need to have denial of service defense, a strong firewall, malware/virus protection, intrusion protection, encryption and more. These are all of the essentials that you need for your small business to stay on top.
A lot of businesses do not take online security as seriously as they should be. As an IT consultant, you need to remind business owners repeatedly just how important it is to always stay ahead of any online threats.
