Soto Law Group March 2019

Soto Law Group March 2019

March 2019 Soto’s Chronicles

DeDe Soto

Protecting your most valuable asset — your family

FROM THE DESK OF DeDe Soto

March Madness, St. Patty’s Day, and more! We all have a we bit of Irish in us during the month of March. I am so ready for some spring weather, and I’m sure you are too! We are still having our workshops and would love to see you, your family, and your friends at any one of them. Unfortunately, we have been in court over the past couple of months with trust disputes involving families that either failed to plan or did not keep their estate planning documents current and are now facing disputes over trust terms and administration. These plans were not done by the Soto Law Group. These were plans prepared by do-it-yourselfers, online services, or attorneys who did not stay in contact with their clients. Make sure your family has peace of mind with an estate plan done correctly. Come to our workshops to learn how to plan properly.

Cybersecurity is a notorious boogeyman for small-business owners. The problem is that many entrepreneurs either believe that cyberattacks are not a direct threat to their livelihood, or they cannot afford to put robust network security in place. In a time when digital threats exist in unprecedented abundance, this kind of thinking couldn’t be more dangerous —or irresponsible. After all, underinvesting in IT doesn’t just put you at a disadvantage to your tech-savvy competitors; it also calls the very future of your organization into question. When a Fortune 500 company gets hacked, they shell out millions of dollars and make headlines. But when an unprotected small business comes under serious fire by cybercriminals, it often collapses quickly —without fanfare or much of a fight. This is why poor cybersecurity“represents an especially pernicious threat to smaller businesses,” SEC Commissioner Luis A. Aguilar said in 2015.“The reason is simple:”he wrote,“small and midsize businesses are not just targets of cybercrime; they are its principal target.” With that in mind, it’s essential that you do everything you can to protect yourself and your employees from cyberattacks. Here are three things you can do today to strengthen your network security and prevent a crisis. 2WAYS TO IMPROVEYOUR CYBERSECURITYNOW, NOT LATER B atten D own the H atches — or F ace the C onsequences

Until next time, many blessings,

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an outside IT consulting firm, as they’ll give you the hard truth and let you know exactly where your weaknesses lie. This might be a tall order for your small business, but it might save your entire operation down the line. 2. LOOK FOR WAYS TO EDUCATE YOUR TEAM (AND HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE). According to IBM’s X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, more than two-thirds of cyberattacks occur due to“inadvertent insiders.”These are employees who unknowingly engage in actions that leave the network vulnerable, like clicking on a suspicious link in a phishing email or ignoring a key software patch. Cryptographer Bruce Schneier put it best when he said,“Only amateurs attack machines; professionals target people.”Because of this, the best way to boost your cybersecurity isn’t to pile money into a better antivirus or complicated network defense — it’s to get your people up to speed with cybercrime trends and educate them on best practices for avoiding threats.

To this end, it’s a good idea to hold regular education sessions on cybersecurity. You might be able to easily recognize a phishing email; many of your team members may not. Again, it’s a good idea to bring in an outside company whose specialty is training teams on digital threats. Sometimes all it takes is a single session for everyone to understand just what they’re up against. Cybercrime is a bigger problem now than it ever has been, and it shows no signs of slowing down. But if you take responsibility for defending your network before it’s too late, you can bat away these threats and drastically

CYBERSECURITY BUDGET (OR SET ONE).

It can be overwhelming to set a firm budget for any aspect of your business, but this is especially true of IT, because many business owners aren’t often sure what type of security their company needs or howmuch it will cost. According to CIO magazine, you should spend around 4–6 percent of your annual revenue on cybersecurity. If your current cybersecurity budget falls under this range, it’s time to re-evaluate. Will your current IT system protect your business should a cybercriminal target it? If the tech you use every day gets hacked for hours or even days, will your company survive? Most companies simply cannot afford that much downtime, much less the loss of precious >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5

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