 Welcome to The Journey. Today we're going to talk about five cybersecurity tips for your small business. Hey Nealey, I've got a question for you. Would you believe that more than 50% of your web traffic might actually be from bots, scammers, and even hackers? I believe it. Well, you've probably heard of stories about websites being hacked and then, you know, you're probably thinking you're invincible, right? Like you're Nealey. You could never be a target. And the sad truth is that hackers and scammers don't attack websites for personal reasons. They do it for the thrill and for the economic gain. And as a small business owner, you're an expert of your products, your services running your business, and no one really expects you to be a master of website security because it's a tough job, which is why small business websites are particularly vulnerable to attack. But not to worry though, we're going to give you the tips and tricks, just to make sure that you beef up to your security with five easy tips. So number one, use secure and unique passwords. This is something that I had to learn the hard way and I have to constantly remind myself to do this. So make sure you're doing it on your end. And it's amazing the amount of information we store online. I store everything online, every password, and think about it. Everything from your thermostat to your personal computer to even your bank accounts has a password attached to it. And now if you're like some people I know you might use the same password for all of those things. And that's a huge no, no. Again, I did this. I hear you. I learned the hard way. So take it from me because if a hacker or scammer correctly guesses your password on just one account, then it's easy for them to find and access your other accounts, including your website. And that's why it's essential to create strong, unique passwords. But here are some tips to really crafting the perfect password. So for one, you don't want to recycle your passwords as MSN. Don't use the same password on every single website. Don't choose easy to guess security questions too. That can be easily looked up or just checking out your Facebook account can easily find your mother's main name or the street address you lived on when you were 12. You definitely want to use more than one word and then use numbers and symbols, but never in a sequence. So my awesome password 11 exclamation is not an awesome password, no matter how hard you want it to be, but you'll also want to use passwords that are at least 12 to 15 characters in length. But remember, always change your password every quarter at the very least just to keep your website safe. So every few months. And if you have trouble remembering all these different passwords, we have a video on password managers that make your life a little bit easier with the just randomly generated passwords. Then you just need to know one password to rule them all, making that one incredibly secure. So number two, be sure to perform routine security checks. I can't stress that enough. I know we've also talked about security a ton on this channel, not a new topic. So you probably know that an attack can come honestly at any time, you guys. So routinely checking the security of your site is mission critical. Yeah. And if you don't want to be constantly watching a website, I highly recommend do that. Use website security. It's going to scan your website from malware. And if it does find any, it's going to remove it. It even monitors things like your brand reputation online, performs Google block list monitoring removal and a ton of more. And number three, keep your eye out for cybersecurity tips. The world of cybersecurity is ever changing just like what I say about social media. So it's important to stay up to date on all of the cyber threats. Now, if you find yourself short on time, I mean, who doesn't consider subscribing to some industry leading newsletters. And I suggest subscribing to the security security newsletter, which is especially useful for learning about new vulnerabilities that are out there. And cyber threats actually as they happen. That's an awesome newsletter. Another amazing blog newsletter combo is Krebs on security. The author, Brian Krebs was a victim of hackers and became obsessed with cybersecurity. And since then he's published a daily blog, which is honestly just incredible, focused on online crime investigations, latest cyber threats and data breaches and security updates in the hacking world. But it's one thing to subscribe to these newsletters, but the real benefit is in actually reading them. You'll really be amazed what you can learn from just a few minutes every day. And really to be sure to dedicate that time because it does take some time to peruse both newsletters really you're protecting your business at the end of the day from those looming dark threats. Our fourth tip here for you is to consider tools really safeguard your website. It's not going to hurt to introduce some tools that will help you monitor and ward off those cyber threats before they even touch your small business website. If your website is already being infected with malware, for instance, go to how he offers malware removal to help fix your website when attacked. And even better, there's a monthly subscription that allows you to safeguard your website with automatic daily backups, one-clicks restore, and even a firewall. The firewall is like having a moat around your what your house, keeping all the riffraff and criminals or in-laws or anyone else you don't want in your house. Same thing with that firewall. Best of all, this website security tool that monitors your small business website. It's 24-7-365 for all of these different things. And last but not least, number five, install an SSL certificate right away. Check it out. I actually was just looking to book an acupuncture appointment with my local gal in town here, and I noticed it's not secure. So trust me, when I go in for my appointment, it's the first thing I'm going to let her know. And if you're not familiar with an SSL certificate or also known as a secure sockets layer, what it does, it helps protect information entered into your website by basically just building a secure encrypted connection between the website visitor's browser and the web server. And this is super important because think about all of the personal, private information that some of your patients or clients or customers are entering on your website, you want them to be reassured that that information is going to be protected and that it's going to be safe. So imagine the SSL certificate as a privacy wall, right? Everything that goes on behind it can't be seen on your website. So if your customer is entering payment information on your website, like when I was booking my acupuncture appointment, putting in my credit card, the credit card number will be protected. At the end of the day, an SSL certificate encrypts the data sent to your servers so that a customer's credit card information, home address, email address, or really any other personal identifier information will not be visible to anyone trying to steal that data. It just looks like gobbledygook. So that SSL certificate is just an easy way to install on your hosting account, whether you're with GoDaddy or anyone else. And it provides protection for your website on an annual basis. Be sure to use unique passwords, those complex ones that someone couldn't just guess in seven seconds. And then be sure to change those passwords every three months. And then perform some routine security checks. You'll thank yourself later and back up your website regularly. And also I would say consider a malware detection tool and install an SSL certificate right away. So there are many more cybersecurity tips out there to follow, but these five will certainly give you a solid digital defense to start. Be sure to check out our 200 plus videos that will help you as a small business thrive. And as always, make sure to like, comment, and subscribe. This is The Journey. We'll see you next time.