Addressing Cybersecurity Pain Points for Florida Businesses—It’s Not Just About Solutions

Florida business communities have a unique combination of variables to satisfy for protecting their networks—and precious data. Our climate, demographics and location give us a slew of technical considerations that many less tropical states don’t face.

Combatting Mother Nature

Floridians are beholden to one of the most capricious forces in nature: The weather. Hurricanes, floods, sink holes, tsunami-like waves pounding the shore—and even snow in the panhandle—threaten to disrupt businesses on a recurring basis. As storms become less predictable due to climatic changes, the practicality of securing your network against the elements will only become more crucial.

Disaster recovery must be more than reactionary. Florida businesses and agencies need to take steps now, not just when an emergency is imminent, and then consistently maintain these processes. Backup of data and systems must be validated and secured, and established in the cloud or at an off-site data center a significant distance from your main servers. Companies should also be able to run applications on-demand from virtual machines backed-up in the cloud.

Procedures need to be in-place to restore the network, established and practiced long before any disaster. Critical machines should be raised above the floor to avoid flood damage. Even with secure back-up, companies can’t restore data if there are no functional machines to restore them to. An alternate location should be identified where staff can relocate to continue with business.

All these factors play into a comprehensive, secure back-up and disaster recovery plan. A seasoned managed service provider will have experience in protecting against elemental emergencies, and can help you accomplish these goals in an organized and consistent fashion.

Leaner Regulations

Florida is often seen as a business-friendly state, with less-taxing regulatory restrictions than many others in the union. Sometimes this is a plus, since it allows for more flexibility in conducting commerce. Yet less strict regulations also create a more complacent environment, where business owners aren’t mandated to invest in security-related technologies, making them more vulnerable to a cyber attack.

Small businesses are especially susceptible to loss in the event of a data breach, since they have fewer resources to survive the costs and downtime involved. SMBs account for 43 percent of cyber attacks annually, causing an average of $25,000 in losses per company. Business owners can’t let the lack of regulations lull them into a false sense of security. Cybersecurity should be of the highest priority, and should be implemented in layers for greatest effectiveness. Waiting for regulations to implement cybersecurity control is always a bad idea, because staying ahead of your risks is one of the key factors in successfully protecting your business from cyber attacks.

HIPAA and the Healthcare Economy

Florida is the choice for retirees, and has played a role in creating an enormous healthcare-oriented economy. HIPAA regulations are some of the most stringent market-specific rules in our country – and one of the most harshly penalized. Small practices often don’t have the internal resources to fully invest in compliance, yet HIPAA fines can reach up to $25,000 per violation category—a scenario that could easily drive a practitioner out of business.

An IT managed services provider (MSP) that specializes in cybersecurity will have an informed conversation with practitioners about how they treat privileged patient information. Compliance assessments can identify gaps that could lead to a fine or a compromise of data. The fact is that few—if any—practitioners knowingly violate HIPAA regulations. Rather, many offices think they’re sufficiently compliant, but don’t fully understand the counter measures and processes they need to satisfy the mandates.

There are a multitude of reasons to consult with an experienced cybersecurity and technology provider. Knowledge of regional pain points is critical. It pays to work with a provider that is well-versed not only in technology solutions, but in the specific variables that impact deployments in our home state.

Protecting your Florida business from unique regional challenges like hurricanes and evolving cyber threats is crucial. At James Moore Technology Services, we specialize in tailored disaster recovery and cybersecurity solutions to safeguard your operations. Contact us today to ensure your network and data are secure against all threats.