5 IT Security Questions for Every CEO to Ask their vendor

If you manage a small or mid-sized business there are plenty of things keeping you up at night. Losing business to a competitor, getting sued by an employee, or permanently losing critical intellectual property are three worries that often top the list. Information Technology often relates to all three of these.
Here are some facts for you to ponder:
• In 2015 risk of loss is still highest among your own people. 65% of all losses still come from inside the company. (This is down from 80% in 2000)
• BYOD (bring your own device) is among the highest risk factors for digital theft.
• For small businesses, the average (direct monetary) loss from an information breach is $50,000.

We have 5 IT security questions every business owner needs to know, the answers may help you sleep better:

1. How are we protecting our core business information? Financial reports, marketing plans, potential promotional activities, business contact information, investor information, new product plans, customer lists, etc.?
2. How are we protecting our intellectual property? Product designs, manufacturing instructions, patents.
3. How are we protecting our employee’s information? Healthcare and private personal financial information – these aren’t scare tactics – but if someone you employ gives your HR people information they consider to be private and it leaks out, or an identity thief gets ahold of your employees direct deposit information – guess who gets sued?
4. How are we protecting our physical assets? Passwords to the bank account, where the safe is, how to disarm the alarm, policies and procedures for protecting from theft?
5. How are we protecting our network? How often are we applying patches, are we using a best-of-class antivirus/anti-malware solution, what suite of services are we running on our firewall?

How did your IT vendor do answering these 5 IT security questions?

If you’re wanting to consult with an IT Provider that knows how to answer these questions and create solutions that will secure your business now into the future, contact Upward Technology today.