The National Institute of Standards and Technology is reaching out to small business owners to help them improve their digital security with a new guidebook entitled ‘Small Business Information Security: The Fundamentals’.
In a statement, the document’s co-author, Pat Toth, explained that while many small business operators “think that cybersecurity is too expensive or difficult”, they can have more to lose than larger organizations when a digital attack hits; the National Cyber Security Alliance says that 60 percent of such companies cease operations within six months of a digital attack. Toth’s guidebook explains how to do things like ensure data encryption, install email filters, update operating systems, and so on.
The effort comes at a time of rising awareness about digital security issues, thanks in part to, on the one hand, major security crises like the recent DDoS attack that brought down numerous popular websites, and, on the other, efforts like the Stop. Think. Connect. campaign. It also arrives at a time when sophisticated security technologies like USB-based biometric authentication are getting into the hands of everyday consumers. As such, it could have a substantial impact on the business owners and managers it reaches.
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November 10, 2016 – by Alex Perala
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