1. What are the costs and benefits of developing cybersecurity programs in business?

2. How can you tell if your computer is safe?

The costs of developing a cybersecurity program may initially seem very high and difficult to justify for smaller businesses and organizations but the benefits and advantages are numerous.  To begin, 68% small businesses have experienced a cyber-attack and almost half of cyber attackers are targeting small businesses, this means that attackers are actively searching for firms with weak or low cyber defenses. Compliance with government standards and regulations means you need a cybersecurity program that keeps your firm within legal regulations.  The costs of not having a cybersecurity program can mean failure of the business or organization, loss of trust from customers or users, and even potential prosecution for negligent behavior that causes harm.  What businesses can do to protect themselves is to evaluate their cybersecurity needs with an experienced and trained team.  They can develop a plan to secure their vulnerabilities and minimize risk to their organizations.  This will necessitate an investment in infrastructure technology, people, and creating a cybersecurity organization within their business.  This investment in a cybersecurity program will protect their operations from attack or negligence, secure their compliance with laws and regulations, and protect faith of their customers as a safe company to do business with.

You can tell if your computer is safe by doing a few simple things. To begin, it is easier to prevent a computer from becoming compromised than fixing it after it is compromised.  Prevention starts with keeping your computer and software updated with the newest updates sent out by manufacturers or software publishers.  These often will contain fixes to known vulnerabilities that cyber attackers may attempt to exploit.  You should also run a trusted antivirus or anti-malware program to search for problems.  The use of strong passwords and replacement of default passwords is also essential.  Additionally begin to develop cybersecurity senses, and never click on spam or links to questionable or new websites, share passwords, or respond to phising attempts.  Keeping backups of your system and data at regular intervals is also recommended.  If you think your computer has become unsafe, you can begin by running a scan for malware or viruses.  Many can find harmful programs or keyloggers.  You can restore your system to a previous back up from a time you knew the computer system was secure.  Uninstalling and permanently deleting any new programs you installed can help.  Lastly reach out to online forums, friends, or cybersecurity professionals if something doesn’t look or feel right or if you want to learn more about a suspicious event occurring on your computer.