1. Use a Password Manager 
Early on, it’s easy to create user accounts quickly and without much thought of security. However, many times those accounts are either used frequently or forgotten about, and the passwords are weak. Simply start out with a company password manager tool to ensure all passwords are strong and handled securely.
2. Create a Formal Plan
Have a formal security plan in place that you can expand and add to as you grow and need further cybersecurity tools. This sets a standard and precedent that gives you a process and best practices to adhere to rather than just addressing problems in a reactive way.
3. Implement Best Practices From the Start
Cybersecurity becomes more difficult to manage the faster your business grows. I implement the best practices for security as soon as possible and schedule a regular test. The best defense is an alert team that has good habits and a sense of suspicion about any new messages.
– Derek Broman, Discount Enterprises LLC (DEGuns.net)
4. Address Weak Links
Personal smartphones and tablets are weak links in the security chain. Improve your overall protection by keeping personal devices off the corporate network. Instead, set up a separate Wi-Fi network to which employees and guests can connect their devices. Also, employ a strong spam filter and turn off clickable links in emails that come from outside the company. Infected emails often lead to cyber attacks.
– Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker
5. Educate Your Employees
Making sure that your employees know how to spot a cyber predator is worth more than any cybersecurity system. Oftentimes, employees will surf the web or answer an email that can compromise your entire system. Arm your staff with knowledge of how to prevent cyber threats.
– Patrick Barnhill, Specialist ID Inc.
In the early stages of a business, the number of people who know account passwords should be very small. Because of this, it’s easier to quickly inform those in the know about password changes. Take advantage of this by frequently changing passwords to improve your security without running the risk of a communication breakdown. It’s simple, cheap and effective. – Bryce Welker, Crush The PM Exam
8. Understand Your Risk Areas
Look at your organization, and audit your security risk areas. You might not need to act on them immediately, but it’s like having a map: When you know where you are, you don’t need a map, but as soon as you’re lost, you do. Do the audit, and you’ll have a map of where to go as soon as you’re big enough that cybersecurity measures are an important priority for your business.
– Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure
11. Maintain a Chain of Custody
Use proper authentication processes and record chain of custody. It’s easy to not take data security seriously when you’re starting out, but your customers put faith in you to protect their information. Restrict data access to only employees who need to access it, and have a log to record who accesses what types of data. This way, you can easily identify where and when there’s a breach if it occurs.
– Jürgen Himmelmann, The Global Work & Travel Co.
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