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As if it’s not challenging enough being a small business owner, you’re vulnerable to being the victim of various crimes. A lot could happen throughout the day, whether you’re at the office, or at home after work - your business could be or could have been the target of something like a burglary or a break-in, and it could cost you far too much to bounce back from. If such a thing should ever happen, you should make sure you’re prepared to handle the aftermath and know what you can do to make the best recovery from it.
It’s not just small businesses, and you could argue that bigger businesses attract more of that kind of attention, due to it potentially being more profitable for criminals to steal from.
Burglary
If you’ve just started out, the property that your business is operating from might not be as secure as you’d like it to be. There’s only so much you can do to prevent anyone from getting in and accessing your property, and sometimes that’s just not enough. If you’ve come to work to find that someone has broken into your building, you shouldn’t hesitate to call the police. Try not to touch anything, as your property is now a crime scene, and anything could be a pointer to what has happened and why.
If there’s a mess after the incident, you could consider calling crime scene disaster companies. Some crimes leave behind something that would be too much for an untrained professional to deal with, so it’s best to make sure the job is done correctly.
The same applies to vandalism, even if nothing was stolen, it’s still a compromise to your business. Having evidence that someone else damaged your property would also help to prove your role to the insurance company, making it easy to claim compensation.
Cybercrime
If there’s any part of your business that operates online, then you’re vulnerable to cyber attacks from people who are trying to access your data. Your online security needs to be secure enough to protect your and anyone else’s personal information, as your customers’ trust relies on it. If customers can’t feel safe providing their payment information to you, then you’re going to lose out on a lot of your online sales. You could even lose employees, which could see the end of your business.
If you have noticed that your business’ secure data has been accessed by someone unauthorized, then you should immediately start working on remedying it. You can’t always recover it or prevent it from happening, but you should notify those who it has affected so that they know that their information is out there. Sensitive information could cost your customers greatly, so giving them a chance to avoid further damage is the best way to go about it. You should also consider investing in stronger security to prevent it from happening in the future.
