BLOG: Three things you can do to protect your business from cyber criminals today

Blog written by the North East Business Resilience Centre (NEBRC).

In the time it takes you to have your morning coffee, follow these three actions and reduce the chances that you’ll lose money and time to online fraudsters.

1. Familiarise yourself with the types of scams criminals use. Before you can protect your business from thieves, you need to know what to look out for. Find a glossary explaining some common terms to do with computer and internet security on the NEBRC website. Today, we recommend reading about phishing, ransomware and viruses. These are some of the most common crimes which businesses face.
2. Share your knowledge with your team. Don’t take for granted that colleagues will understand how your business might be at risk from online thieves. Pass on anything you learn to your teammates. Making sure they know not to click on suspicious links in emails for example, gives you a layer of protection. To help you all stay up to date, consider signing up to our free newsletter on our website, with updates on what to look out for.
3. Save the police’s contact details. If you were to become a victim of fraud tomorrow, what crucial responsive actions would your business take? Would you know to contact the police for example? You can contact Action Fraud, The National Fraud & Cyber Crime Reporting Centre, at any time, if you think you’ve been attacked. Save their number in your phone: 0300 123 2040. You can also report via their website actionfraud.police.uk or use their live chat 24/7.

Improving your resilience against online criminals is a gradual process, but by doing small jobs like these little and often you can reduce the chances of a debilitating attack.