As our society and our businesses become more "online" than ever before, they are also becoming more vulnerable. Two statistics in particular tell the story of the threat small businesses face:

• Sixty-one percent of all cyberattacks were aimed at small businesses, especially those in the legal, insurance, retail, financial and health care sectors, according to Symantec.
• More than half of small businesses shut down within six months of suffering a cyberattack, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If you’re a small business owner or executive, you likely have a long list of challenges and opportunities you need to focus on for you and your business to be successful. Cybersecurity may be low on that list. That’s why it’s important to find a banking partner that can be your eyes and ears when it comes to cybersecurity for your finances.

At National Capital Bank, our team utilizes the latest safeguards to protect small businesses against cyberattacks and bank scams. As we continue to be proactive about emerging cybersecurity threats and develop new ways to protect our business clients from those threats, there are a few fundamental ways businesses can prioritize cybersecurity in their everyday operation.

1. We train our employees on the latest cyberthreats and safeguards. One employee is all it takes to have a breach on your hands. Of course, it’s not their fault. Hackers employ tricks and social engineering to exploit our base instincts and online behaviors. Prioritizing cybersecurity knowledge sharing and regularly training employees keeps the best and latest cybersecurity threats top of mind and helps to minimize your business’s vulnerability. In a U.S. State of Cybercrime survey, 42% of the respondents stated security awareness training helped to deter attacks and reduced losses by 300%.
2. We factor security into every decision we make. No matter if it’s your sales team, accounting, HR or information technology, prioritize security in every department and decision that occurs in your organization. This is not only important for the sake of your business, it’s even more important for your customers and any information they have shared with you. Any software you use should have the latest updates installed at all times. This is a simple way to safeguard information stored, but your cybersecurity strategy should not end there.
3. We put tight controls on account access. Access management keeps sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands. By allowing you to police your access points, you increase security around how users and employees access systems. Two of the simplest and increasingly standard ways to manage access is by requiring secure passwords and multifactor authentication. Every site or service your employees use ought to have their one-of-a-kind login and password. The use of a password manager, such as LastPass or 1Password, enables you to generate complicated passwords and easily keep track of them. A supplementary, yet necessary, layer of protection known as multifactor authentication prevents other people from logging in to your account and notifies you whenever they attempt to do so, which serves as a warning that it's probably time to change your password. MFA should be enabled for all accounts utilizing an authenticator application, such as Google Authenticator, for storage of these secondary verification codes. SMS and email should only be used for MFA when no other options are available.
4. We choose partners that prioritize security as much as we do. And so should your business. If cybersecurity is an afterthought when choosing vendors or partners, you’re opening up your business and your customers to great risk. Your cybersecurity management shouldn’t end at your front door. By making cybersecurity a priority when considering and choosing your vendors you will create a more secure business ecosystem for you, your employees and your customers. So, whether it’s a banking partner or a bakery, make sure the people you work with outside of your business have prioritized cybersecurity.

In today's hyperconnected world, cybercrime continues to be a problem for businesses of all sizes and in every industry. By choosing a banking partner that can anticipate, identify and combat the online cybersecurity threats your company faces, you’ll be able to concentrate more of your attention on what truly matters most: running your business.

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