As we previously discussed in a blog post, “We face risk every day. Some risks we can avoid and others we can’t,” but today, we’re going to talk about one area where you have a little more control and the ability to lessen the overall risk.

Let’s start off asking a question… Who has domain administrator access on your business network? This question might seem foreign if you’re not familiar with your network setup, but it’s an important question that you should ask your IT team or provider. Here’s why:

If too many or everyone (yikes!) on your team has administrator access to your network, you have a very high risk that a single user could negatively affect all of your computers causing downtime, loss of data, and even breach of trust with your customers. Even if a user isn’t intending to cause harm, a little mistake can cause a whole lot of issues.

Keep the number of staff that have administrative access to your entire domain to a minimum. You should never use a domain administrator on a workstation. We’ve seen it used to do things like install programs. That should never be. It should only be used by an IT professional who is well versed in security.

Now you might be saying, “No, not everyone has administrator access, only a few who need to view some reports… surely nothing can happen.” While your level of risk is certainly lessened, you still have a high risk of an issue or breach. For those who need a few reports, have your IT team/provider create specialized user access for the information that is needed, without granting administrator access across the entire network.

Protecting your network and your overall company should be your first priority! Not only will a breach possibly cause data loss, but it affects the trust that you have with your customers, especially if sensitive information is leaked or released to the public.

Good cybersecurity practices are like seat belts. Nobody buckles up because it improves the quality of their ride. Instead, we “click it” as protection against something really bad happening.

So whether you are a CEO, an IT provider, or even a small business owner juggling all of the different aspects of running your own company, we’re here to help you become successful by protecting your company from a security hack or breach.