BeginnerSmall Business Security

Turn on two-factor authentication for your business email today

If there is one security measure every small business should implement before anything else, it is two-factor authentication on business email.

Business email accounts are valuable targets because they contain payment instructions, client relationships, supplier details, and confidential records. A compromised business email can be used to commit invoice fraud, impersonate you to clients, access linked accounts, and monitor your communications.

For Microsoft 365 (Outlook): Admin centre → Users → Active users → Multi-factor authentication. For Google Workspace (Gmail): Admin console → Security → 2-step verification.

If you use a personal Gmail or Outlook account for business, log into your account settings and enable 2-Step Verification right now.

When staff have separate business email accounts, ensure all of them have 2FA enabled — a member of staff's account can be just as valuable as the owner's. The pharmacy incident in 2022 began with a single compromised email account that wasn't protected.

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Set a rule: always verify payment requests by phone

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