All modern businesses rely heavily on their IT systems. Virtually every firm uses PCs, laptops, smartphones, software and Apps to conduct their day-to-day business, so they cannot afford a security breach that leaves them unable to use their IT kit.

The vast majority of firms store everything about their firm digitally. Most firms do not have a manual backup of that data. This and the fact that your competitors could learn everything about your firm if they breached your IT system means that firms have to keep their IT systems secure.

Use Professionals

By far the best way to keep your system secure is to use professional IT Services. Professional IT firms have access to the latest technology, which they use to keep their customers’ systems secure.

They are very experienced and have the work force to keep up to date with the latest threats and the best way to deal with them. A small in house team is not likely to be able to keep pace with the latest threats in this way, so employing a professional IT team is normally the best option.

Regardless of whether you employ an outside IT contractor or not taking the following steps will help to keep your data and IT systems secure.

Passwords

You need to use unique passwords on all of your systems and hardware. These passwords need to be changed at least once a month. When we say, everything needs a password we mean every item of hardware and every database. Even every file and folder should be password protected.

Backups

Making regular backups is important. If the security of your system is breached you will need a backup of your data to restore your systems. Remember to secure your backup systems and data with passwords.

Updates

Most security breaches occur when hardware or firmware is out of date. Keeping your systems up to date makes a big difference to security.

Security Software

Security software is basically a computer program which is designed to improve information security. It is important to use good quality preferably paid security software on every area of your IT system.  Some of the major security software includes access control, anti-key loggers, anti-spyware, anti-subversion software, anti-tamper software, antivirus software, cryptographic software, firewall, intrusion detection system (IDS), intrusion prevention system (IPS) and sandbox.

Click here to read more about keeping your IT systems secure.