Addressing cybersecurity risks & concerns is a top priority for businesses across different industries. It is absolutely important to have a clear set of protocols within the organization for ensuring security at all levels. Departmental silos and other factors should not matter when it comes to cybersecurity. As an entrepreneur, if you are wondering how to prevent cyberattacks in the first place without blowing out a huge amount of money, here are some quick steps to consider. 

1. Inform your employees. Are your employees aware of security concerns that are important to your organization? Managers, privilege users, and employees are eventual users of IT resources, and they must know their roles and respective responsibilities in ensuring cybersecurity. 
2. Focus on in-house testing. Running a bug bounty program would be great to find security issues, bugs and vulnerabilities, but small and emerging companies often don’t have the expertise or budget for that. In that case, in-house testing and scans are your best bets. Penetration testing can be incredibly useful in finding common issues, which otherwise go undetected. 
3. Check on malware protection measures. From using antimalware software, to ensuring that default passwords are changed immediately, every step goes a long way in avoiding malware. Malware often comes through emails and attachments, so ask your employees to check every source, before they click a link, popup, or download a program.
4. Use strong password. A strong password is long, complex, should include passphrases, and must have special characters. Ensure that for every account, networked devices, and software, strong passwords are used, and to help your employees in using passwords easily, recommend a password manager. 
5. Add extra level of security. Options like multifactor authentication and lockout feature can be easily added to your current security that’s only dependent on passwords. For privilege accounts, users, and for critical data, this could be a great step and doesn’t have to cost a lot. 

Deciding on the budget

In recent years, cybersecurity budgets have increased massively, and big corporate firms and brands are willing to spend further, so as to enhance security. While you may not have a lot to spend, a few basic steps can be enough to prevent a security breach, which is otherwise more likely to occur. Talk to security experts and outsource your cybersecurity needs, if need be, to make the most of various strategies, but do not take this aspect for granted. 

Danny White