It’s 9 o’clock Monday morning. Do you know where your data is?

While some financial and healthcare organizations are required to compile reports about the security of their electronic data, all small and medium-sized businesses should know their network is secure. Security breaches could result in downtime, data leaks, or even damage to your equipment.

“Small to mid-sized businesses are the most vulnerable when it comes to understanding their security state. Similar to large organizations, an IT security issue could impact their business productivity, revenue, customer trust, market status and company brand due to a lack of responsibility to secure their IT infrastructure,” according to Thomas Dawkins, Group Product Manager for Microsoft. “The issue could be so severe for a small business that their whole business could be lost.”

Microsoft’s Security Assessment Tool can help small and medium-sized businesses assess their IT security by answering 250 questions about people, process, operations, and technology. This tools is free and can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/security/msat.

“MSAT can assist companies sustain their security posture through periodic assessments after their initial assessment baseline is created. It provides organizations with a list of proven recommendations which can be used to help prioritize, budget and schedule remediation activities,” said Dawkins.

For more information about IT security or for help improving your network, contact Kelli Williams at 877.284.1300 x118 or by e-mail at kwilliams@catalysttg.com.

Source: Microsoft Small Business Center