Statistics indicate that there’s a cyberattack every 39 seconds.

With October designated as Cybersecurity Awareness Month, you’ll see a great deal of information about how cybercriminals continue to come up with new ways to access your data — breaches that would negatively impact your business and the clients and members you serve.

With this information in mind, now would be an excellent time to review the steps financial professionals like you can take to help protect yourself from cyberattacks:

• Review your cybersecurity plan. How have you adjusted your plan to new cyber threats? Have you completed the “Security Checklist” for financial professionals?
• Best practices. Continue to implement cyber best practices in your office.
  • Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) should be enabled on all systems where available.
  • Use strong passwords and maintain a consistent change routine.
  • Computers need to be updated and patched on a regular basis.
  • Anti-virus and firewalls are installed and maintained.
  • All systems should require a login and lock themselves after 15 minutes of inactivity.
• Know your information. Ensure you have an inventory of both physical and electronic assets. This includes establishing good, encrypted backups and secure storage. Access to these assets by others should be minimized to “As Needed”.
• Maintain a current list of all third-party business partners. This can be helpful in changing credentials and notifications in the event of a cyber incident.
• Take training and preparation seriously. Communicate regularly with everyone on your team on cyber best practices. Make sure to emphasize the importance of double-checking every email attachment and link before clicking on it. Cybercriminals will continue to be hard to spot as the use of AI becomes more widespread.

It’s important to keep cybersecurity top of mind because, in the time it took for you to read this article, a business like yours could have been hacked.

If you have questions about how to better protect your business, clients and members, please reach out to marketing@atriawealth.com.