It’s very important for businesses to have discipline around cybersecurity, including proper training for employees, automated tools for protection, and cyberinsurance. Put effort and energy into understanding that you are a target and there are simple and inexpensive things you can do to protect your business from becoming a victim. Check out part 2 in our video series on cybersecurity:

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‍Video Transcript

So it's very important for all businesses to have discipline around cybersecurity. When we're talking about the things that you can do to make yourself more cybersecure, again it starts with the human. The more you can do to train and make your employees aware of their role in keeping the system secure, the better it is.

Training is always important, so that they understand what to look for in emails, and that idea of being suspicious, and not reacting too quickly.

Companies should ensure that they're employing all of the automated tools that are available to them to manage their network. If a business doesn't have its own internal technology talent, then they should consider investing in having a technology resource come in and evaluate their system to help them understand where their vulnerabilities may be. There are inexpensive systems and technologies that businesses can use to have their systems be more secure.

One important thing that every business should think about - is using something called multi-factor authentication - in any system that they can use it.

One of the most common recommendations we will make is that you do your online banking on a separate system from the rest of your network. So it’s the idea of keeping online banking - which is your most important financial transactions - separate from all the other things you're doing, business-related or not.

We shouldn't assume that if we're more secure, we're less convenient. It has to be an imperative that we be both. Our systems need to be both secure and convenient for our customers. More and more of the technologies that are becoming available are allowing us to have secure solutions that are also convenient for our customers to use. And it's really important for business owners - if they don't have some sort of cyberinsurance - they want to talk to their insurance provider and find out if there's coverage that would be helpful for them to have, in the event that they do have a cybercompromise. If they do have cyberinsurance, you want to make absolutely certain that you understand what is covered in the event that you have a compromise.

The most important thing a business can do is to put some effort and energy into understanding that they are a target, and there are things that they can do to protect themselves. There are a lot of resources available online, on government websites, on association websites. Their bankers, their attorneys, and their accountants can be helpful in helping them understand simple, inexpensive things they can do to make sure that they're aware. Because ultimately having an understanding of cybersecurity and cyberawareness, will keep your business from becoming a victim.

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Peggy Leimkuhler
Chief Operating Officer
​Firstrust Bank