In this new day and age of digital entrepreneurship, more and more people are gravitating to the startup. It’s a notoriously competitive field that’s full of potential landmines and uphill battles. There’s a cavalier attitude that the superior brainpower is the engine that will eventually win. There’s an even darker side to the startup game that’s full of thieves and cheats. That’s the culture of the business as it’s always been, just distilled and magnified around the new technologies and new blood that pop up every year with a potentially billion-dollar idea.
But how does one truly stay safe in the game? How can one protect themselves from the pitfalls and the paid hackers just dying to steal source code and pirate partners? If you have a startup company and are looking to beef up your security, here are a few ways that you can protect yourself online.
Strict Policy
Protection, especially in a startup, starts with policy. When you have a solid policy put in place, you can prevent a lot of the things that lead to a security leak. According to fatstacksblog.com, beefing up your policy and reviewing your business model is the absolute number one way you can protect yourself. For example: when one works online, there’s a complete jungle of add-ons and plugins that come across every single day. Now, most people know not to click on it and not to let those kinds of applications flourish.
But you, as a startup owner, need to control what gets into the computer and what doesn’t. That’s where the policy comes in. When you set your policy, include everything you need to protect your computers. You need to have every laptop that is connected to the network get run by the policy.
VPNs While Out
To adequately keep people connected to the network, one has to have their work laptop submitted for review and a VPN installed. This is the age of remote working. One can be anywhere, work anywhere, and hit their deadlines from across time zones. But that also leaves one open to having a work laptop infected or hacked. A solid VPN allows for one to stay in that tunnel and have policy run at a moment’s notice. That’s the kind of attention to detail that a startup needs to invest in.To adequately keep people connected to the network, one has to have their work laptop submitted for review and a VPN installed. This is the age of remote working. One can be anywhere, work anywhere, and hit their deadlines from across time zones. But that also leaves one open to having a work laptop infected or hacked. A solid VPN allows for one to stay in that tunnel and have policy run at a moment’s notice. That’s the kind of attention to detail that a startup needs to invest in.
A single virus could ruin a whole set of benchmarks. So if you’re willing to let your employees work remotely, you have to keep in mind the security of their surroundings and get them in a private VPN for monitoring and policy.
Social Media Safety
Social media is a buzzword for a good reason. It’s the primary means of marketing and sharing one’s progress with the world. Startups thrive on social media. It seems as though every other thing that pops up is a social media “influencer” trying to “pivot” into the startup space. Good for them. You, on the other hand, should keep your wits about what goes on and into your social media.
Hire someone who can translate your ideas into a form that is catchy but not corny. One should have their interest peaked without the cringe of obvious Steve Jobs emulation. Furthermore, when you post on social media, be sure that you don’t have anything proprietary on there. Don’t let out your secrets. Don’t let your competitors know too much. Also, only add people on the admin list that you can trust.
Team Safety Literature
When it comes to internet security, there is a single rule: comply. One has to comply, or else the potential for data leaks increase by magnitudes. You need to have the people within the company to agree on prioritizing the safety of sensitive information. To do this, one has to have adequate literature and training on the subject manner. It’s a bit of a stretch to have everyone understand how to keep secure files and adhere to safety protocols.
Even if you’re in a tech startup, some people are not necessarily wizards at company compliance. So if you have the proper setup within your company and the right literature, you can rest assured that they are held accountable for the things you inform them on.
Protecting your startup is not difficult. It may be a bit complex, with plenty of moving parts and a ton of quality assurance, but that just takes time and work. But it is, inherently, not hard. So when you have to call the security of your startup into question, always keep in mind the policy, the training, and where your team is located. Just that alone can avoid more breaches than you can count.
