Data breach can cost about $3.2 million. So what has your business done to protect important data?

“A good firm will follow industry best practices when handling data for their clients,” says Anthony Mongeluzo, president of PCS, a technology services firm based in Moorestown. “Many of our clients – particularly larger organizations — will give companies like ours a set of standards for security policy, auditing, monitoring, and maintenance. But for all of our clients, our team watches their networks 24/7 and stays attuned to any hacker trends that we spot, which might indicate a new approach that they’re using to compromise our clients’ data.”

Training is also important, according to Mongeluzo. He says that fake emails are by far the most likely way that an intruder will gain access to a network. Michael McCully, who owns Red Arrow Technologies in Eatontown, N.J., agrees. “Employees are more often than not the reason why networks get attacked or viruses come into the network,” McCully says. “Strong passwords and password expiration guidelines are a must. We also set up file and folder level access based on the most restrictive and least permissive access rights.”

Both Mongeluzo and McCully recommend using software tools like KnowBe4 to simulate potential email “phishing” scams. “It is the number-one way to protect yourself,” Mongeluzo says. “The other advice is to constantly remind your team that vigilance is permanent, and not just after a pep talk or when you’ve returned from a conference.”

These kinds of software and services aren’t cheap. The technology firms I interviewed say they charge their clients anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of dollars a month for protecting their data, all dependent on the company’s size, configuration, and requirements. But then again, who can put a price on protecting one’s data?

Even with all these precautions, breaches still occur, which is why every small business should have a technology services firm perform a cyber “audit” at least annually to help determine if there are any vulnerabilities. Most companies I know will do this either for free or as part of their ongoing services agreement, especially if you’re committed to a longer-term relationship.

Finally, and considering all the risks, every small business needs to make sure there’s some type of cyber insurance in place. That’s because many of the agreements with the cloud-based providers that are hosting data put the onus of liability back on their customers, especially if any breach was caused by lack of training, software, or due diligence on the customer side.