Startup owners often draw attention to business planning, marketing strategy, and additional investment. But they don’t address the need to build a robust cybersecurity system. Lack of a clear understanding of the threats can cost a successful business a failure of a startup. Here are some typical cybersecurity mistakes made by startups.
Excessive Access Rights
Usually when a startup employee needs access to corporate resources or services, they immediately get admin rights. Without understanding the true needs and responsibilities of a particular employee, the person who distributes access rights often finds it easier to grant access to everything once than to receive new access requests each week. However, the extra access an employee has increases the likelihood of error. If the number of cyber incidents is to be minimized, each participant should only have access rights necessary for their task.
Lack Of Proper Storage And Backup
Data backup is the best way to securely archive important business information such as classified documents. These backups are important as they allow data to be recovered in unplanned situations such as a cyber attack.
Forgotten Passwords
Another common problem is forgotten passwords for corporate social networks or other rarely used services. New staff members set up a Facebook or LinkedIn account to help promote the business, but forget to share their account details with other staff members. Then it leaves for another role, and the login and credentials are lost with it.
Shared Passwords
Some people may think that using shared accounts can be a productive idea. However, the more people who know a password, the more likely it is to be leaked through phishing, negligence, or malicious intent. In addition, this greatly complicates the investigation when an incident occurs. For example, someone gained access to an account. In such cases, experts suspect that the password has been compromised by malware and assume an attempt to control an employee’s computer with access. Seeing everyone have access to the account will make the job much more difficult.
