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Do you honestly think your business isn’t vulnerable to digital threats? The vast majority of small businesses assume they will never be a target, but think again. Over 95% of data theft happens when very small businesses (such as those who have less than 15 employees) begin to accept credit cards. Even this very brief transaction opens up a whole new world to a hacker. Here are three ways to avoid having your data stolen.

Make Your Passwords Complicated

Small business upon small business is victimized by computer crimes because they haven’t taken the time to think up strong, complicated passwords. Some, on the other hand, create a good password and then never think to change it. Some experts think that a password that’s more than three unrelated words long can actually be easy to remember for you and hard for a hacker to “guess”.

Don’t Leave Your Computers Unsecured

Hackers can come from all angles, including internal ones. Require logins for all of your computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Have them reset to a locked setting after five minutes or less of inactivity. Make sure your virus protection software is up-to-date when you download information or programs from sources you aren’t familiar with as well.

Don’t Directly Connect to the Internet

Most small businesses don’t actually bother to use routers and simply connect their computers directly into Internet ports. However, the use of a router can block many threats, simply by existing and having proper protection codes. This is especially important to do with any machine that may have sensitive information on its hard drive. Get a quality router, such as a Netgear or Linksys, that will guarantee a safe (and fast) connection for everyone in your office.