Whether you’ve been running a company for a while or just thinking of starting an entrepreneurial career, you must not overlook a very fundamental aspect of security. You need to protect yourself.
Creating a business from scratch is hard. It’s even harder to be successful in the long run. Every fifth business fails in the first year of operation. Only 30% of companies remain on the stage in a decade. And one of the most overlooked reasons for such premature death is security breaches: physical, intellectual, and cybersecurity.
These three pillars will not guarantee success, but you are guaranteed to miss it without them. So how to protect your business down to the ground?
#1 Physical Security
If you haven’t had any experience in business before started your first company, chances are you are lost in managing staff, clients, and things, neglecting the physical security of your property. And it’s no surprise. Cybersecurity is getting more and more attention, while physical security seems to be not so important in the tech age. However, the total number of data breaches in the US broke a new record high by reaching 1579 incidents, and a considerable share of those attacks were physical attacks. No network control can protect you if thieves break into the premises and research your warehouses, doors, facilities, fences, etc.
A good physical security system is a layered system that provides redundancy and diversity. The first ensures that each security element is backed up by a spare one while the latter provides cross-checks. The simplest system of this type can be a magnetic door with a card system + CCTV. Unauthorized individuals can’t go through the door, plus they are recorded by CCTV, which sends alarms signal to security staff.
#2 Intellectual Security
The fact that leading world companies heavily invest in the security of intangible assets – £135bn spent annually on intellectual security vs. £140bn spent on the security of tangible assets – may surprise you, but this is for a reason. While big businesses perfectly know that intellectual property is their first-class asset, their medium- and small-sized counterparts tend to believe that nothing threatens them. However, given that intellectual property is literally anything created by the company – a new algorithm, design, or invention – safeguarding it is a wise decision. And this applies to almost any field. Take, for example, gambling: best online gambling sites in the USA should be licensed by trusted regulatory bodies or governments, which actually means they are allowed to act within an established legal field and at the same time are protected by this field. However, intellectual property may not be intertwined with the legal framework of the country. You should know how to secure your developments.
First and foremost, make an intellectual property audit to identify all intangible assets. And once you know them, you can apply the safety measures you have at hand. Register a trademark to include all intellectual property you want to protect. And be aware of the copyright laws protecting your photo, text, and other content by default. By registering a patent, which is the most expensive form of intellectual security, you can protect your inventions along with working algorithms. Remember: just like with physical security, layered intellectual protection works best.
#3 Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity needs no introduction: 81% of customers never use a brand again after a data breach. With so much said about cybersecurity strategies and tools, it’s hard to add something except for the fact that you can start protecting your company even before establishing it. Most software services offer a few packages – something like ‘free,’ ‘private,’ ‘business,’ and ‘enterprise.’ While the latter can cost thousands of dollars, ‘free’ and ‘private’ are the best ways to fathom how the system works and whether it could suit your business. Try password managers, email encryption, and make sure to secure your Wi-Fi router. As for hardware devices, a simple and cheap sub-$100 hardware-based security key will provide you an easy way to use 2FA.
Get a Backup Plan
No matter how complex and strong your security system is, hackers can be stronger. But it is also expediency of hacking that determines whether you are about to be hacked or not. Bypassing multi-layer protection to get inside a small- or even medium-sized business may cost impostors more than potential profits. However, it’s better to thoroughly go through your business processes and find out possible backup plans if this or that protection element ceases to operate or got compromised.
