The National Cyber Security Centre have issued some new guidance on “Using online services safely.”
To avoid having to set up and manage their own IT infrastructure, many small businesses use online or cloud services. For instance, these might include email, online storage, online accounting and managing of invoicing, website hosting, and social media.
The guidance is designed to help small businesses reduce the likelihood of cyber attacks when using these services.
The guidance provides help on:
- Choosing a good service,
- Backing up critical data,
- Protecting the domain name you use for your website and email addresses,
- Creating separate user accounts and securing them,
- Protecting your admin accounts,
- Defending against malware,
- Using the security features that are built into the service, and
- Recovering a hacked account or service.
If you are a small business without the resources to employ a dedicated IT specialist, this advice can help you to consider and cover off the risks you face when using online services.
For the guidance, see:
Many business owners we work with feel caught up in the day-to-day drudge. They’re handling customer queries, fixing problems, chasing invoices - and wondering how they’ll ever find the time to step back and think about where the business is heading.
HM Revenue and Customs have reported that 170,000 scam referrals were made to them in the year to July 2025. Encouragingly, this is a 12% reduction on the previous year, however HMRC are warning taxpayers to take care.