Whether you are a small business owner or have a large enterprise, you need proper security measures to secure not only your data but also the clients’ information. Cyber crimes have increased a lot in recent years, and counter policies have been developed by the governments to ensure every business is safe.
Why is online security essential for small businesses?
Thinking that no one’s going to steal your data because you are a small enterprise is not right. Though you have less data as compared to large enterprises, you are less secure too. You are more vulnerable, and facts also prove that. Almost 70% of the cyber attacks in 2017 were in small businesses. Cyber crimes cost billions of dollars each year, and the damages are increasing every year.
To address this concern the government of the UK and some standard organisations developed security standards. These standards help enterprises improve their security practices and prevent cyber-attacks.
Which security standard is right for your business?
IASME standard
Information assurance for Small and Medium Enterprises (IASME) is a security standard that explains security guidelines in a much simpler way and is also affordable for small enterprises. It was recognized as the best security standard for small businesses by the UK government.
It lets you show your customers that you are taking the right steps to secure their information. It provides guidelines to protect all aspect of IT. It helps you in securing the network, devices, and software. It covers risk management and user awareness. The IASME governance is available in two versions; self-assessment and gold standard.
Cyber Essentials
Cyber Essentials is a security standard developed and launched by the government of the UK in 2014. It’s a first-level framework for cyber-security. It helps you understand the overall security of your business, the weaknesses and how these weaknesses could be exploited.
It is a self-assessment scheme that requires you to implement fives basic security controls which are:
- Network security
- Secure configuration
- Access control
- Virus protection
- Patch management
And then, you will be given a self-assessment questionnaire that you have to answer. Your answers will be assessed and verified by a certification body which will decide whether or not your business deserves the certification.
Cyber Essentials plus
Cyber essentials plus is the second level of certification and is a deeper evaluation of your security measures. To get this certification, your business has to be cyber essentials certified, i.e. five security controls must be implemented.
The certification body will come to your company and test security practices. They will assess your approach for malware protection and patch management and other security controls, and if you pass the test, your organisation will be awarded cyber essentials plus certificate.
It costs more than cyber essential due to the extensive use of resources.
ISO 27001
ISO 27001 is the industry standard for managing security policies. The International Organisation developed it for standardisation. To adopt this standard, an enterprise needs to use the Information Security Management System for analysing the risks and developing strategies for managing them.
It was developed to help companies in protecting information assets. It has 114 security controls which organisations need to implement. They cover everything network security, access control, human resources, cryptography, and incident management, etc.
You need to choose a standard according to your business, i.e. how large is your business, how many employees do you have, and what sort of information do you handle. You also need to make sure that all departments work in collaboration with each other to implement these security standards.
