Is Your Small Business On The Brink Of A Cyberattack [ 2025 ] ?

Even with rapid technological advancements, running a small business has not gotten easier.

A business owner must purchase SSL certificate to maintain security, hire skilled developers to eliminate the risk of website breakdown and hire a digital marketing team to comply with Google’s algorithm.

However, having all these things in place does not mean that you can care less about the growing cybercrime.

Every 39 seconds, a cyberattack happens, stating that nobody is safe without appropriate measures in place. To ensure that your page will be completley secure, consider installing the top-of-the-market WordPress plugin – WP Force SSL.

But you don’t have to worry because we will be going over six measures that you can take to protect your website:

Table of Contents

1. Never Use Outdated Security Patches

If a website’s security patches are outdated, the data risk increases manifold. Hackers can exploit gaps in obsolete patches and sneak into your system.

Security updates might be extremely annoying, but they play a vital role in keeping your website safe by fixing the patches.

CMS platforms like Wix, Joomla, and WordPress are some of the best ones out there that ensure the safety of its users through regular updates.

It is best to integrate regular checks for updates in your schedule so that you never stay out of date.

2. SSL Is Must

SSL or Secured Socket Layer certificate acts as a shield to protect your website from cyberattacks.

SSL uses Public Key Infrastructure to encrypt the data transfer going on between a website and a server.

Without an SSL, the communication between you and your customers will be passed in the form of plain text, where any hacker can easily intercept and steal data.

Thus, SSL is of paramount value. The certificate generally comes in two types, namely, a Regular single-domain & a Wildcard SSL certificate.

If you only have one static website, a regular single-domain SSL can do well for you. It can protect a single primary domain or subdomain and comes with Extended Validation and Organizational and Domain Validation.

On the other hand, a wildcard SSL can protect both the primary and an unlimited subdomain to level 1. Extended Validation is absent in a wildcard SSL.

Moreover, you will get recognition from Google and the Payment Card Industry, which will allow you to rank on the top of the search engine’s result page and accept online payments, respectively.

You can procure a premium yet cheap SSL certificate online from reliable SSL providers like SSL2BUY and protect your website.

3. Arrange Team Training Sessions

Your system is not the only one that will be at risk; instead, every system bears the same amount of risk, which is why you cannot leave even a single employee untrained.

If you want to maintain the same level of security throughout the organization, it Is best to provide everyone the same level of training.

You can arrange such sessions once a month to invite a cyber expert to brief your organization on the latest cyberattacks methods and the traditional ones such as phishing, malware, and ransomware.

4. Use Smart Password Systems

Bad password hygiene can increase the cybersecurity risk.

Organizations often cannot fetch time to change passwords, and even the admin passwords are not adjusted for years.

As a website owner, you have to be aware of both internal and external risks. We are not trying to say that anybody from your team is at fault but, maintaining a healthy business protocol is essential.

Suppose all your employees know your passwords, the chances of cyber theft increase. So, it would be best if you upgraded your admin and system passwords once every three months.

5. Keep Yourself Braced Up At All Times

The timing of the attack is always uncertain. You never know when and how the attack will happen.

However, you can still stay prepared for it at all times. For example, you can do a data risk analysis and see which files are at constant risk.

You can then create backups and ensure that those files are copied successfully to cloud storage.

Moreover, your tech team must have a shutdown button that can be used in an emergency to shut down all the databases and even your website.

Having such systems and processes in place allows you to stay one step ahead of hackers.

6. Use Automated Backup Systems

Backups are essential in keeping your data safe. Therefore, you must create decentralized systems where a single account protected by a single password does not have the key to every process going on in an organization.

Automatic backups with the support of decentralized command systems can be extremely effective because you can easily swap the lost /corrupt data and file through the backup database, and the process won’t get hampered at all.

Now that we have shared measures that can be taken to repel a cyberattack, we would also like to bust some myths that most people have regarding cybersecurity.

Myth 1. Single-factor authentication is enough

No, single-factor password authentication is never enough. It can be easily breached. Use 2-factor authentication, which involves the use of One Time Password.

Myth 2. Small businesses are safe from cyberattacks

No. Since small companies do not have the required security protocols, they are sitting ducks for hackers.

Myth 3. Anti-virus software is all we need.

Absolutely not. Anti-virus software can only protect your system to a point they recognize something or somebody as a threat. Phishing attacks and advanced bots are capable of breaching modern-day anti-virus systems.

Myth 4. Only external cyber threats exist

Well, this is certainly what hackers want you to think. But that is totally untrue. Cyberattacks can happen internally as well. For example, an untrained employee might end up clicking an unsolicited link and let the hackers in.

Myth 5. Compliance with Google & PCI/DSS guidelines are enough

Small business data security can’t be judged by its ability to comply. Google and the Payment card industry are concerned for their customers, not your website.

You have to run a site audit to check where the improvements can be made.

Myth 6. A security provider can take care of the complete security

To an extent, it does take care of your security, but it is not meant to secure legal assets. For them, you have to add additional layers of security along with SSL and Firewall.

Myth 7. IT Department is to be blamed for a breach

No, as a business owner, you cannot hold one Department responsible for everything. Employees, too, should be held liable for the violation.

If you want to blame the IT department, ensure that every employee is well-trained in cybersecurity matters.