U.S. Chamber Releases Best Practices Guide to Protect Business Networks and Digital Devices from Hackers

WASHINGTON D.C.—Today at its National Cybersecurity Awareness Month meeting, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released Internet Security Essentials for Business, a guide to help business owners, managers, and employees adopt affordable, sensible solutions to reduce cyber threats, which are growing in scope and sophistication. The guide aims to help businesses secure valuable proprietary property, digital devices, and networks, and to make hacking increasingly expensive to conduct for individuals and criminal organizations.

“Businesses have an array of sensitive information—personnel records, blueprints, tax forms, customer orders, and much more—that require protection,” said Ann Beauchesne, the Chamber’s vice president of National Security and Emergency Preparedness. “The guide discusses common threats to business information and computers, such as hacking and malware, and the rise in cybercrime, which has spiked in recent years.”

Today’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month meeting at the Chamber showcased leading officials from government and private industry. Over the past two years, the Chamber has been visiting cities around the country, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to increase business’ awareness of the need for greater cybersecurity and to educate them about tools that are readily available to manage online risks.

Research suggests that most security breaches are avoidable through simple and reasonable measures. The cybersecurity guide released today outlines a dozen recommendations and bundles them into three categories: workforce, policies and problems, and prevention and preparedness. Business owners and managers are encouraged to emphasize workforce education, such as urging employees to use strong passwords for their digital devices and helping them spot e-mail scams. Businesses should also organize the information they keep, know where it is stored, and prioritize it by level of importance. In case of a cyber incident, businesses should have a plan in place to help speed recovery and to prevent future incidents.

Internet Security Essentials for Businesses emphasizes the following points:

• All businesses should understand common online risks that may lead them to become victims of cybercrime.
• 100% online security is unattainable, even for large corporations. But there are inexpensive practices that can be implemented to improve the security of business information, computers, and networks.
• Businesses need to know how and to whom to report cyber incidents and online crime. The guide highlights organizations, such as OnGuard Online and the Internet Crime Complaint Center, that businesses can report cyber incidents and crimes.
• Cybersecurity is a team sport. Taking the actions recommended in this guide will have positive consequences for the security of businesses, communities, and the country. The interconnectedness of computers and networks means that the public and private sectors share responsibility in protecting cyberspace.

“With this guide, the Chamber wants to help businesses understand the value of investing in information security now, rather than paying a heavy price later,” said Beauchesne. “Businesses can invest in simple solutions that pay high returns. Straightforward improvements to information security practices will ultimately make the price of success much more expensive for the bad guys.”

Internet Security Essentials for Business was sponsored by Visa, Microsoft, and Southern Company. Copies of the guide and additional education materials are available at www.uschamber.com/cybersecurity.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.

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