Cyber criminals target small businesses because they know small businesses — short on time, resources, or expertise — cannot always secure their data(new window). But the cost of not securing your company’s data has never been higher. The data breaches themselves and the GDPR fines(new window) make it too expensive for businesses to ignore cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity is primarily about creating a culture of cyber security awareness(new window). That means training employees to implement best practices and having the proper processes in place to deal with security breaches. Merely switching to encrypted services will not solve all of your cybersecurity issues. However, encrypted services do reduce your company’s exposure, and, when paired with a security-conscious workforce, they can go a long way to preventing a data breach or hack.
Note that while some of these tools will be good solutions for companies of any size, others will work best for smaller businesses that have not created their own internal network. Securing a larger business’s network will require specialized tools, such as firewalls, intrusion detection and protection systems (IDS/IPS), authentication services, and advanced monitoring solutions.
Here’s a look at the top cybersecurity solutions for small businesses in 2024.
Email provider
Most small businesses rely on email to handle both internal and external communications. Following cybersecurity best practices(new window) is essential to keep your business’s data safe, but some email providers can offer your company more security than others.
Proton Mail
Proton Mail offers its users end-to-end encryption(new window). Your emails are encrypted before they leave your device so that only you and your intended recipient can access them. Unlike Gmail and other big email providers, we don’t collect or exploit your personal data. That means that even if there’s a data breach of our servers, your organization’s data will remain inaccessible to anyone but you. This encryption also extends to forwarded messages, file sharing, and all events organized in Proton Calendar, allowing you to maintain workflow and schedule meetings without compromising security.
You can even secure your messages to non-Proton Mail users by sending password-protected emails. Finally, Proton Mail is both GDPR(new window) and HIPAA(new window) compliant.
Platforms: Desktop apps (Windows, macOS, Linux), Android, iOS, and web app
Price: Included with Proton for Business plan, along with all other Proton apps, for €10.99 per user per month.
VPN
A virtual private network is an effective way for your business to control valuable assets on the company’s internal network. A reliable VPN will enable your business to secure your most sensitive data without additional hardware and training.
Additionally, a VPN for your business is useful for employees crossing international borders for work. As governments increase internet restrictions and content censorship(new window), your team could find it otherwise difficult to use the internet freely.
Proton VPN
Proton VPN will grant your company access to an extensive server network spanning 85+ countries across six continents, guaranteeing you and your employees will always have access to a fast, secure VPN server — no matter where your operations or employees are located.
With Proton VPN, employees can seamlessly connect to your internal network even if they’re not in the office, and admins can easily control employee and contractor permissions.
When your employees connect to Proton VPN, all internet traffic is routed to a VPN server in a privacy-friendly country, such as Switzerland, Iceland, or Sweden. Any third party — or potential attacker — monitoring your team’s traffic will only be able to trace it back to the edge of Proton VPN’s network. That means you can operate your business in a secure, private manner.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows
Price: Included with Proton for Business plan, bundled with all other Proton apps, for €10.99 per user per month.
Cloud storage
Cloud storage(new window) has redefined how offices can work. By storing files on the cloud, your business can maintain a backup of all critical documents in case of a catastrophic system failure as well as easily share documents, access files on the go, and sync progress between different employees. Protecting these files and the data they contain should be one of your business’s top priorities.
Proton Drive
Proton Drive provides end-end-encrypted cloud storage for all your business files and supports end-end-encrypted sharing of files and folders. With a Proton for Business plan, each user in your organization gets 500 GB of storage, providing the space and security your business needs to operate without worry of cybersecurity threats.
Platforms: Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android
Price: Included with Proton for Business plan, along with all other Proton apps, for €10.99 per user per month.
Team collaboration
Many businesses have employees and contractors working remotely. This can make coordinating a challenge unless you use a team collaboration app. Given the amount of information that can be exchanged and stored on these platforms, using one that is encrypted is a necessity.
Wire
Wire(new window) is one of the only end-to-end encrypted services that allows for group calls, which makes it more useful than Google Hangouts and more secure than Slack when trying to manage team communication. Wire has been independently audited and is entirely open source, allowing you to be sure that Wire’s code is doing exactly what they say it is.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, and web browser add-ons
Price: Starts at €5.83 per user per month
Messaging
For companies that do not need all the functionality of a collaboration app but still want their communications to be secure, there are end-to-end encrypted messaging apps.
Signal
Signal(new window) is widely considered to be the most secure encrypted messaging app, with endorsements from numerous experts, including Edward Snowden and renowned security expert Bruce Schneier(new window). It supports texts, group texts, as well as voice, video, and group calls.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows
Price: Free
Threema
Threema(new window), unlike Signal, does not require a phone number to create an account, which means Threema is as close as you can get to truly anonymous messaging. The company headquarters is in Switzerland, giving its service strong legal privacy protections. Threema has also created a special plan that is optimized for businesses and is GDPR compliant.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Windows phone, and web app
Price: Starts at 1.50 CHF per device per month
Password manager
Creating strong, unique passwords(new window) or passphrases(new window) for your accounts is one of the basics of cyber security, but no employee can remember all the passwords necessary to log in to all the platforms they need to use for work. A password manager changes all that. By safely encrypting all your passwords, a password manager allows you to create passwords that are impossible to crack, without having to remember them all. Using a trustworthy password manager to secure your passwords is one of the easiest ways to improve your company’s security.
Proton Pass
A Proton for Business account gives you access to Proton Pass, which includes 50 vaults and unlimited aliases.
Proton Pass will make it easy for your team to securely share logins and control who has access to sensitive logins. Additionally, administrators will get access to tools to ensure their teams adopt cybersecurity best practices, including two-factor authentication(new window) (see below).
You will also get to use our high-security Proton Sentinel program, which works for both Proton Mail and Proton Pass and has blocked thousands of account takeover attacks(new window) since it was launched in August 2023. This is a security-first feature you won’t find anywhere else.
Proton Sentinel uses artificial intelligence and human expertise to detect and block suspicious attempts to take over accounts. The program leverages insights Proton developers discovered while building anti-abuse systems that protect over 100 million accounts.
Platforms: Windows, iOS, and Android
Price: Included with Proton for Business plan, along with all other Proton apps, for €10.99 per user per month.
Learn more about Proton Sentinel(new window)
Two-factor authentication
To ensure your important accounts are secure, you should enable two-factor authentication (2FA) in addition to using a strong, unique password. By using 2FA on your accounts, you can prevent intruders from accessing your accounts even if they get a hold of your passwords.
Proton Pass
Proton Pass features an integrated 2FA authenticator. And Proton for Business users can even enforce 2FA for an entire team to make sure everyone is protecting their work accounts properly. That means administrators can quickly check how many team members have set up 2FA and contact them directly to explain why 2FA is so important with simple instructions to set it up.
Platforms: Windows, iOS, and Android
Price: Available with Proton for Business plan, bundled with all other Proton apps, at €10.99 per user per month.
YubiKey
The YubiKey(new window) is a hardware token (a specialized USB stick) that you can plug into your device to confirm your identity. While it is thought to be the most secure form of 2FA, relatively few services support hardware token 2FA.
Platforms: YubiKey 5 NFC works with macOS, Windows, and NFC-equipped Android and iOS devices
Price: A YubiKey 5 NFC costs $50.
Duo
Duo(new window) offers several 2FA solutions, including solutions that incorporate Yubikey hardware tokens, confirmation requests delivered to the Duo app that foil man-in-the-middle attacks, and time-based one-time passcodes.
Platforms: Android and iOS
Price: Has a free option. Premium plans begin at $3 per user per month.
Notepad
Standard Notes
Standard Notes(new window) is a simple, end-to-end encrypted note-taking app that can sync your notes across all your devices. Its clean interface and numerous extensions mean that you can use Standard Notes for everything from writing yourself reminders to coding.
Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, and web browser add-ons
Price: Free.
Protect your small business with encrypted services
For businesses that have not yet secured their data, these encrypted services are a good place to start. Download and subscribe to these end-to-end encrypted services to start protecting your company’s data.
While encrypted services alone will not guarantee your small business’s cybersecurity, they are necessary tools that every business should consider.
Whether you’re an individual entrepreneur or company CEO, Proton has a plan to keep your business data secure. We offer a suite of end-to-end encrypted apps to keep your data secure, however big or small your business: Proton Mail, Proton Calendar, Proton Drive, Proton Pass and Proton VPN(new window).
And switching your business to the privacy-first Proton ecosystem is simple. We have even published an easy-to-follow tutorial that won’t require any onboarding to extensive training.
Making the move means not only protecting your business from cybersecurity attacks that could threaten your company’s existence but helping shaping a better internet where privacy is the default.
