Is Your Business Secure?

As we depend more and more on technology to accomplish the goals of our business, our security risk exposure becomes greater. That's why the Better Business Bureau, in partnership with several other organizations, has created a website that small business owners can use to help secure their business.

Think your business isn't at risk? Think again. Consider this:

• 33 percent of small businesses lack even simple antivirus protection. Source: Symantec Corporation, 2009
• 85 percent of data breaches occur at the small business level. Source: Visa Inc. September 2009
• 78 percent of consumers said they’d stop shopping at a store if they believed the store had experienced a card data compromise. Source: National survey of cardholders, Visa Inc., February 2009

Enough to make you take action? Here's what the new BBB Data Security -- Made Simpler site has to offer.

• Identify your small business data loss vulnerability points – electronic and paper-based
• Develop a data security policy that both protects sensitive data, ensures its availability and restricts access
• Identify and deploy the right kind of tools to protect sensitive data, based on your type of business
• Communicate your data protection policies to customers as a strategy to strengthen the business - customer trust relationship and differentiate their company from their competitors
• Know what do to if you believe you’ve been a victim of a data compromise

It's worth a visit to the site just to make sure you have your business as secure as it should be. Head on over there now while it's fresh in your mind. And don't forget to take action.