Cybersecurity for the self-employed: What you need to know to keep data safe

Self-employment is an important, but often neglected, part of the economy.

According to the Office for National Statistics, there are approximately 4.4 million self-employed people in the United Kingdom, representing about 13% of the labour market.

The rise of technology has changed the world of self-employment just as much as any other sector.

Smartphones and computers are making work easier and more efficient for everyone.

However, there are some drawbacks as well. Since everyone has an online presence nowadays and a lot of personal and financial data is managed in the digital world, hacker attacks have become more common as well.

Protecting the integrity of your systems is a must so that the private information you’re responsible for doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.

While it can seem like caring about cybersecurity is being overly cautious when you’re self-employed, the truth is that you can never be careful enough when it comes to navigating cyber risks.

Strong accounts and passwords

Ideally, all self-employed individuals should have separate computers and even separate Wi-Fi connections for their professional and personal endeavours.

This would ensure that should a device become a target of a hacker, the information contained on the other device won’t be affected, and vice versa. If that’s not something that you could realistically achieve, though, you need to make sure you create a unique business email that is used exclusively for work tasks.

Choosing a special service for this will allow you to keep data private as well as remain perfectly compliant with the latest rules and regulations.

Business emails can also be customised in order to create groups that let you stay connected and organised at all times, create calendars for different events and projects, schedule, snooze, and even undo emails, filter out spam and block messages, as well as adjust access if you need to.

As for the passwords, you need to make sure that they are as unique as they can be. Don’t reuse the same password for different accounts, and don’t create codes that are very similar to one another.

If one of them is cracked, it will be very simple for the cybercriminals to gain access to all your other accounts and acquire even more data from you.

While there used to be a rule that passwords should be changed every three months or so, some believe that this isn’t necessary if you use strong codes, made of several different letters, numbers, and symbols arranged in a random order.

Changing passwords too often could have the opposite effect, as it could cause you to come up with codes that are increasingly weaker and simpler to reveal.

Training

You don’t need to be a cybersecurity expert in order to succeed as a self-employed professional, but some basic knowledge will definitely come in handy.

It’s not just about knowing how to protect your databases but also about recognising if something is amiss and you need to get in touch with a professional to determine if you actually became the victim of a data breach or not.

Looking into courses that you could take to understand the basics, and you can expand your knowledge on your own or with more advanced classes later on if you need to.

You’ll learn about the latest cyber threats that you should safeguard your data against, learn how to recognise phishing and ransomware, and create recovery strategies in case your systems come under attack.

Basic practices

Apart from having strong passwords, you should also consider adopting two-factor authentication, especially for accounts dealing with payments and invoices.

Financial information is what hackers are most likely to look for when they enter a system, so it’s worth adding an extra layer of protection.

Keeping software up to date is an absolute must, but you should also get new hardware regularly in order to keep up with the market demands. Remember to be mindful of the links you click on and the attachments you open.

If you aren’t convinced that an email or message you received actually comes from a reputable source, check before writing any reply.

If a bank or any other service provider asks for passwords or other personal credentials and threatens to close your bank account otherwise, they’re not service providers at all.

Hackers have become increasingly adept at masquerading as authority figures, though, with AI doing a lot of the heavy lifting nowadays and helping to edit the messages so that they look very real.

Educate your customers about the importance of safety as well, since malware can be transmitted through files and attachments sent from other computers.

The statistics

Depending on the size of an enterprise and the kind of industry niche it operates in, the type and scope of the breaches will differ as well. When it comes to the self-employed, ransomware and phishing are the most common, similar to SMEs.

They frequently stem from social engineering, with the hackers motivated by the belief that the people working in this fashion, instead of for a large corporation, won’t have the necessary resources to deal with a cyberattack.

Knowing that these are the kinds of attacks that you’re most likely to deal with can help you be better prepared and recognise the attempts faster. The possibility of falling for a scheme like this is greatly reduced as a result.

Prevention is key here, as the costs associated with cyberattacks can be absolutely devastating for those who are self-employed.

They can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on their severity, while the reputational damage is likely to be permanent as well.

If you’re your own boss, make sure to never underestimate the importance of keeping data safe. It can truly determine whether you’ll thrive in the long term or not.