Franchise business owners benefit from an established brand name and access to powerful business tools and resources. Yet, despite the huge advantages, franchise relationships create unique cybersecurity risks. A single attack can take down the entire network, leading to significant loss of income and reducing customer trust in the business. That’s why franchise businesses need to upgrade their IT infrastructure to protect them against common and future threats.
Enforce A Strong Password Policy
Weak passwords are one of the major causes of IT infrastructure bridges in businesses and industries. Franchise businesses need to put in place a strong password policy that will be consistently monitored and upgraded by the IT team.
Every member of the firm with access to computers must understand what a strong password policy is. The administrators must enforce strong passwords and educate users to manage passwords. Every new password should meet the complexity requirement policy with an expiry date. Email notifications need to be implemented to remind users before the current password expires.
Encrypt The Most Sensitive Information
Your franchise business will constantly be exposed to attacks inside and outside your security network. Consider encrypting your most sensitive information to reduce the risks of losing vital information during a possible attack.
Data encryption helps to secure information by translating data into another form of code so that only those with decryption keys will have access. Data encryption is easy and cheap to implement and can protect remote workers who store data on their devices.
Encryption will also increase data integrity as it constantly changes while also boosting the customers’ confidence and trust in your franchise business. In addition to encryption, businesses can also upgrade their security protocol with two-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-factor authentication (MFA), ensuring improved security.
Educate Your Employees
Training your employees on IT safety is the best investment for your cybersecurity upgrading plans. Employees need to clearly understand your cybersecurity structure, including the dangers and consequences of a breach.
Your franchise business must teach your employees how to spot suspicious activities and combat issues due to human errors. Make your employees’ cybersecurity training an ongoing process so they can be aware of new threats and know how to fight back.
There are several ways to provide training for employees, but most companies are now embracing online cybersecurity classes because of the flexibility and ease of access to course materials. Employees can take these courses without it disrupting their regular job routine.
Online cybersecurity courses are regularly updated to meet current challenges. As a result, students are exposed to acquiring technical and non-technical skills, including programming, penetration testing, creativity, and collaboration.
Implement A Disaster Recovery Capability
A strong cybersecurity strategy will work and give you and your employees some rest of mind. But no system is flawless, so you still need to implement a disaster recovery capability.
The plan is designed to ensure that you can quickly identify an attack and stop it. You’ll also know the next recovery steps to take after an attack and get the system back on track so the business can continue. The faster you can get back into operation, the less income loss your business will experience.
Be Aware Of Current Cybersecurity Changes
Every day hackers and scammers come up with new ideas and pose new threats to the franchise business. That’s why you need to be aware of current cybersecurity changes to keep yourself updated and informed.
There are several ways to keep yourself updated with current cybersecurity changes, and the best one is to implement ongoing training for IT administrators and all your employees. Use powerful tools that help you customize your real-time alerts to get updated information fast.
Listen to cybersecurity podcasts, attend events, and follow professionals and influencers in the industry. Read and listen to news reports about the recent cyberattacks.