Cybercrime is on the rise, and as criminals in this sphere are getting more sophisticated by the day, it’s equally crucial for small companies to be more vigilant. On the one hand, your clients and customers are getting more accustomed to doing business online.
On the other hand, employees have grown comfortable with their remote setup, which exposes your business to more risk.
In every single scenario, preventative measures are the only cost-effective way to safeguard your reputation, your people, and sensitive data.
Now that we’re quickly approaching 2024, it’s a great time to learn more about the most impactful fraud detection methods and preventative measures to keep your business safe. Let’s dive right in!
Hire and Train the Best People To Protect Small Businesses
Before you can even begin to think about the tools to implement, you should be aware that people are the core of your organization and the key to your security. Human error, poorly assessed threats, and a lack of awareness are often the greatest pitfalls within small businesses.
To help your people evaluate each situation properly and use all the tools you’ll invest in, you need to hire the kind of people who value security. They should also have a good track record when it comes to their behavior with sensitive data.
Of course, you also need to continuously train your teams. Set up educational seminars and workshops to go over mock fraud situations so that you can show them various possibly risky scenarios that might seem completely normal and safe. Bring in an expert to conduct the training if this isn’t your forte.
Use Secure Collaboration and Communication Tools
Most small businesses now have a hybrid or fully remote setup, which means your people need a simple, safe way to interact in real-time. Then again, even office-based teams must have a way to collaborate securely, especially with sensitive data.
Since cybercriminals look for loopholes and weak links in your system setup, you must select all communication tools carefully. Make sure that you use a secure instant messaging platform that allows your teams to chat and exchange files without risk.
It’s essential that you can moderate who has what types of access and rights, which means you have complete control over who can participate and to what extent. Evaluate your IM tool based on the available encryption and compliance for data protection, but also based on storage types and other built-in security features ideal for your business.
Perform Surprise System Audits
Preventing fraud across the board also means you need to be proactive when it comes to system checks and audits. Whether you have an in-house expert or you decide to bring in someone reputable. Why? Because sometimes employees are the ones exposing you to the risk of fraud, surprise audits can deter them from ever doing anything risky or fraudulent.
Add to that, it also allows you to spot possible threats, improve overall cybersecurity, and react in time to prevent any issues or data breaches. Finally, system audits build a sense of security in your team, which strengthens a culture focused on security.
Remote Teams Require Secure Remote Access
A strong, security-based remote access hygiene will completely redefine your collaboration capabilities. For starters, in addition to selecting strong and safe collaboration and chat tools, you must implement secure remote access best practices to prevent fraud.
One crucial step in bolstering your business-wide security with remote access is the use of static IP addresses to ensure greater stability and control in fraud prevention. By whitelisting a limited number of static IP addresses (those belonging to your employees, for example), you can control who has access to your company servers.
This is one of the simplest yet most effective ways you can control remote access for a limited number of users. You can use it to verify your employees’ identities remotely and enforce multi-factor authentication.
Insist on Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
Especially if you have remote teams and your clients join your internal communication channels, you need to implement MFA. It adds that extra layer of security instead of merely using strong passwords–perhaps a chapter in your employee training seminar. As a result, MFA significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized remote entry.
If someone did manage to get a hold of your password, they are much less likely to have access to your mobile device. This means you can use your phone’s biometric scan, your Google Authenticator, or a similar security app that helps keep intruders at bay.
Protect Your Small Business From Fraud
Fraud detection is not a “set it and forget it” process. It requires ongoing supervision, maintenance, and testing, and above all, it’s necessary to create a culture centered around security.
Setting up a preventative action plan is one of the smartest investments you can make in the future of your business. But, it requires the participation of your employees, clients, and partners.