Free Cybersecurity Resources Every Small Business Owner Should Know About
Good Security Help Doesn’t Always Cost Money
A lot of business owners assume that improving their cybersecurity means buying something expensive. Some of the most useful free cybersecurity resources available come straight from the federal government, through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and most small businesses and local government offices have never heard of them.
Since October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it’s a good time to take a look at what’s out there. Some of these are written for business owners with no technical background, and a few are hands-on services that can tell you exactly where your weak spots are.
Cyber Essentials: A Starting Point Written for Owners
CISA’s Cyber Essentials is a guide built for small businesses and local governments, and it treats cybersecurity the way you’d treat any other business risk. It walks through the role of leadership, your staff, your systems, and your data in plain language, and it’s a good thing to read before a conversation with your IT provider so you know which questions to ask.
CISA also runs a Secure Our World campaign with short, simple tip sheets on passwords, multi-factor authentication, phishing, and software updates. They’re great to print and hang in a break room or send to your team during October.
Free Vulnerability Scanning
This one surprises people. Through its Cyber Hygiene Services, CISA offers free scanning of the systems your organization has facing the internet, looking for known weaknesses an attacker could use. Once you’re enrolled, you get regular reports showing what was found and how serious it is, which is the same kind of outside view attackers have of you.
Eligibility is the catch. The service is built for state and local governments and for organizations that are part of critical infrastructure, which covers more ground than you might think, including utilities, healthcare, water systems, and others. If you run a township office, a city department, or a water district, there’s a very good chance you qualify, and it’s well worth signing up.
A Local Cybersecurity Advisor
CISA has cybersecurity advisors assigned to regions across the country, and part of their job is helping smaller organizations understand their risk. They can walk through free assessments with you and point you toward resources that fit your situation. For local governments especially, building a relationship with your regional advisor before anything goes wrong is a smart move.
Plain-English Guides From the FTC
The Federal Trade Commission has its own collection of cybersecurity guides for small businesses, and they’re some of the easiest reading out there. Each one covers a single topic, like ransomware, phishing, vendor security, or what to do after a data breach, and most fit on a page or two. They work well as short handouts for a staff meeting, since nobody needs a technical background to follow them.
Getting the Most From Free Cybersecurity Resources
Free cybersecurity resources are genuinely valuable, although they work best when someone acts on what they find. A vulnerability report doesn’t fix anything by itself, and a guide only helps if its advice actually gets put in place, like turning on multi-factor authentication or cleaning up old accounts from employees who’ve left.
That’s where a managed IT provider fits in. We help clients sign up for the services they qualify for, read through the results with them in plain language, and take care of the fixes. If you’d like help figuring out which of these make sense for your business or municipal office, reach out to Glitch Technology for a free assessment.
Some of the best cybersecurity help out there is free; the trick is making sure someone follows through on it. Glitch Technology provides managed IT services and computer support in Jacksonville, IL. We take full ownership of IT environments for small businesses and municipal organizations through proactive monitoring, preventative maintenance, and strategic planning.