SMEs urged to practice good cyber-hygiene

Senior Manager, Information Security and Governance-MTN, Jacqueline Hanson Kotei, has charged small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to adopt good cybersecurity practices.

She made this call at the just-ended MTN Business Breakfast meeting themed Cybersecurity and digital transformation for SMEs. It aimed to educate SMEs on the importance of cybersecurity.

“We all want to protect our assets, and in the era of digitalisation most of our information is put online these days; therefore, we as business owners need to put a good plan in place to secure them – hence the need for cybersecurity,” she said.

She indicated that good corporate cybersecurity goes beyond securing company’s assets to include personal information.

“One also needs to protect him/herself as s/he puts personal information and interacts online and uses all these digital tools. How sure are you there’s no impersonation and people using your information to take things that belong to you?”

Ms. Kotei further bemoaned the perception that SMEs are too small to employ the services of cybersecurity specialists, and advised owners to inbue the practice of cybersecurity in the early stages of their businesses.

CK Bruce, Chief Executive Officer-Innovare, also highlighted the need to employ services of professional cybersecurity specialists, saying: “We need to ensure that we have competent, experienced and people with the right qualifications”.

He explained that a cybersecurity specialist will have to delve into confidential information of companies and individuals when working, hence the need to go in for a professional to avoid the risk of giving out confidential information to the wrong person.

The breakfast meeting also witnessed a panel discussion wherein the panellists took turns to broaden SME owners’ knowledge on best cybersecurity practices.