The statistics surrounding cybercrime is alarming, according to internet security experts. Online fraud and data theft has increased twofold in the last 10 years. Many businesses have lost crucial data and suffered huge losses. According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) every business loses roughly $4,000 each year to online crimes such as DDOS attacks, malware infections, phishing and many others. This post will focus on how companies can protect their systems against attacks.

Use Strong Password


Online criminals can gain access to your systems through the passwords. They use sophisticated tools to generate random algorithms that help them crack different passwords. You need to create a strong password that is difficult to crack to be on the safe side. Use letters, complex symbols and numbers to create your password. The password should not be less than eight characters and it must not contain your name or year of birth.

Create a Strong Password Policy

Though strong passwords make the system more secure, they are useless if you don’t have a policy. Come up with a password policy to help guide the employees on how, when and who should use the passwords. A good policy must clearly define what types of passwords are accepted and have guidelines on who should access the passwords and when. If possible, come up with a central management system that monitors how employees use their passwords.

Train the Employees

Most of the time, data breaches occur because employees do not know what to do. You need to train your employees about online security so that they know what to do to prevent data breaches and online attacks. You can encourage them to pursue additional courses that concentrate on cyber security. You can also hire a qualified IT security expert to offer insights on security.

Develop Safe Systems

You can reduce vulnerability to hackers by designing safe systems. Safe systems limit the amount of access to your IT infrastructure. Limit individual access to various points of your IT infrastructure and give privileges only to those who deserve it. Use unique set of emails, servers, logins and domain names to reduce potential damage to your computer system.

Conduct Background Checks

Some of the attacks occur inside your network firewalls. So you must screen your employees and conduct thorough background checks to see if they have the ethical qualifications required for IT systems. Be sure to look at their credibility and criminal history.