October has been designated National Cyber Security Awareness Month with the goal of raising awareness about cybersecurity. While small businesses may not consider themselves targets for cyber attacks, small businesses have valuable information cyber criminals seek, such as employee and customer records, bank account information and access to the business’s finances, and access to larger networks. In some ways, small businesses are at a higher risk of cyber-attacks than larger businesses because they often have fewer resources dedicated to cybersecurity.

In our effort to create Cyber Security Awareness here we share resources made available by Homeland Security to help keep your small business cyber secure.

• Use the Department of Homeland Security’s C³ Voluntary Program Small and Midsize Business Toolkit for resources to help your business recognize and address cybersecurity risks.
• Create a custom cybersecurity plan for your small business with the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Small Biz Cyber Planner 2.0.
• Get information from the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) on how to secure your business network.
• Learn about compliance resources on collecting sensitive data from consumers and employees from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
• Safeguard your business, employees, and customers from online attacks, data loss, and other threats with resources from the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA).