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How can your business stay secure on social media?

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Does your business need cyber insurance? You might not believe that your business is at risk from hackers and for the most part that may be true. The problem is that your social media presence can be the gateway hacker use to devastate your business.

Without cyber insurance, you’ll be left to ride the storm of destruction alone, which can potentially result in significant reputational damage and substantial financial loss. Cybercrime and social media is such a prominent issue that the Australian Cyber Security Centre provides step-by-step guides on basic cyber security for small businesses.

Social media safety risks for your business

Whilst social media can help you engage with your audience, attract customers and build positive relationships, it can also pose significant cyber security risks. This is why you need to understand the social media safety risks that threaten your business every day and how to prevent them.

Some of these risks include data breaches, loss of intellectual property or sensitive data, and reputational damage.

Data breaches: Hackers are adept at tricking social media users into handing over their logins and passwords, allowing them to steal personal data and gain access to user accounts. Phishing is a popular method used on social media platforms that often result in data breaches.

Loss of intellectual property: Data theft can severely affect your business if it relates to intellectual property, such as patents and trade secrets. Phishing is a strategy used by hackers to steal intellectual property via social media platforms.

Loss of sensitive data: Theft of customer account data, such as names, addresses, phone numbers, driving licence numbers and bank details can devastate your business. Hackers can gain access to sensitive data via phishing on social media sites.

Reputational damage: This can be caused by the public’s perception of a data breach and how you manage the aftermath. It can also be due to negative online reviews or negative interactions between your staff and customers.

How can your business stay secure on social media?

If you want to know how your business can stay secure on social media, it’s essential that you keep your staff up to date with the best social media safety practices. It’s a good idea to hold training courses that cover cyber safety for businesses regularly. This keeps everyone aware of the importance of online safety, particularly on social media platforms.

Here are seven recommended practices for increasing your company’s safety on social media.

Restrict access to social media accounts.
Implement a social media usage policy.
Enable Multi-Factor authentication.
Monitor mentions of your brand online.
Train employees to recognise phishing.
Create a reporting policy for any concerns.
Invest in Cyber Insurance.

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Restrict access to social media accounts.
Implement a social media usage policy.
Enable Multi-Factor authentication.
Monitor mentions of your brand online.
Train employees to recognise phishing.
Create a reporting policy for any concerns.
Invest in Cyber Insurance.

Cyber Insurance may cover many of the costs of data breaches, whether from social media platforms or other avenue. A vital part of your cyber security plan is to ensure you have an appropriate level of cyber risk insurance.

Find your local adviser to talk to an insurance specialist about your business needs cyber insurance today.

General Advice Warning: This advice is general and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether the advice is appropriate for you and your personal circumstances. Before you make any decision about whether to acquire a certain product, you should obtain and read the relevant product disclosure statement.

All information above has been provided by the author.

Insurance Advisernet, ABN 15 003 886 687, AFSL 240549

This article originally appeared on Insurance Advisernet News and has been published here with permission.