tthebc01 / security-primer-for-small-businesses

A plain english tutorial for how to establish a basic security stance for your small business (and avoid heartbreak).

Security Primer for Small Business Owners

If you are running a small business anywhere in the world, the cyber security of your company is your responsibility. If you can establish some simple habits that you and your employees stick to, you can likely save yourself a world of heartbreak in the future! Poor security hygiene can result in:

• you or your employees getting locked out of important internet accounts like vendor portals or document storage
• loss of control of your company's social media accounts (and thus loss of community followers you may have spent years building)
• business email hijacking
• perhaps worst of all, loss of hard won money from your company's bank accounts!

This primer is not meant to cover everything under the sun or to be a definitive source of truth. Its simply meant to be easy-to-understand written resource for small business owners who may not be technically inclined or have to monetary resources to hire a dedicated security firm to handle everything for them. There are some very simple things you can start doing right this second (even if you haven't been doing them in the past) to drastically lower the likelyhood that you become a victim of cyber crime.

Outline

1. Passwords and password managers
2. Two Factor Authentication (2FA)
3. Email providers and practices
4. Banking security suggestions
5. Other considerations