Look up from your smart device. Can you count on one hand (probably really on all of your fingers and toes) how many other people are staring down into their phones, their faces illuminated by blue light and their ears decorated with white ear buds? No matter where you look or even where you are, someone is using a smart device.

For some people, their smart devices provide a source of entertainment on their daily commute. For others still, their smart devices allow them to respond to pressing emails, send pingbacks and keep up-to-date of the latest goings on in the industry. Sadly, despite the hard work of the boss or employee, the reliance they have on public Wi-Fi and the general lack of cyber education can hurt the business.

According to Dark Reading, 1 in 5 businesses have been hit by a mobile device breach. A cyberattack can cause permanent damage to your company's tech equipment and reputation, not to mention costing your business tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. With cyber risk insurance coverage from CyberPolicy, a cyberattack won't destroy your company. You can rebuild your company from the rubble and start fresh when you have tools like cyber insurance and cyber education in your arsenal. But a company without cyber coverage of any kind, well, they can expect to lose their business six months after the initial attack.

If you want to keep your business running smoothly, you'll need to make sure you're following cybersecurity procedures that are current and bulletproof. Opening work files using public Wi-Fi and blasting emails from an unsecured phone is not a good way to start.

Cyber Protection Plan: What You Can Do
The idea of not being able to check your email and other work-related electronic records might be cause to make you squirm in your seat. What else is there for you to do when you're working remotely or out of the office for a couple of hours?

Get a VPN: A VPN, or Virtual Private Network helps you to connect to your work-related data via a secure Wi-Fi connection. How-To Geek tells data enthusiasts that "VPNs can be used to access region-restricted websites [and] shield your browsing activity from prying eyes on public Wi-Fi."

Don't Ignore Software Updates: Yes, it's beyond annoying when you're in the middle of writing copy or making a keynote presentation to get a pop-up saying that there are updates ready to be installed. As tempted as you'll be to hit ignore, don't. Stop what you're doing and upgrade your software. Software updates usually always include patches to bugs and weak code that cybercriminals could break through. If you don't update your software regularly, you could have already been tagged by a cybercriminal and not even know it.

B.Y.O.D. Bring Your Own Device Policy: A lot of small businesses have taken to allowing their employees to work directly from their own devices. While working from their own devices helps employees to streamline their work process, it also puts your business at risk of a cyberattack. Because you don't know what your employees are downloading on their devices or what websites they are visiting, they could have a virus on their device, and when they plug in to your network, they infect that too.

Have your employees run a daily scan for viruses on their devices before they connect to the company server, it'll save you and your staff from damning cyber viral infections.

Remember, your cyber safety is only as strong as your least tech-savvy employee. Get cyber risk insurance coverage with CyberPolicy for double the protection!