Small businesses can help keep their business information safe and protect their online information with a new free course from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

In support of President Obama proclaiming October as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, SBA is launching this new course, designed for small businesses, to provide an overview on how to secure business information, identify security threats and guard against cyber-attacks.

Cybersecurity for Small Businesses is one of SBA’s newest online courses to help business owners safeguard their information from computer attacks and determine their readiness against security breaches.  The course, available at http://www.sba.gov/tools/sba-learning-center/training/cybersecurity-small-businesses, teaches best cybersecurity practices and protection against cyber threats for the nation’s small business community.

The protection of sensitive data such as business invoices, payroll records, client and employee data and other proprietary information is essential to a company’s success.  A computer failure or other system breach could undermine a company’s reputation, expose it to costly recovery expenses, and disrupt the business’ overall operation.

Cybersecurity for Small Businesses will help to identify information security vulnerabilities that can put a small business at risk, and the protective tools and techniques used to measure, maintain and guard business information and systems.

Small business owners will learn the types of information that should be secured, how to protect themselves from intentional attacks or unintentional damage, guard themselves from decreased productivity caused by security breaches and evaluate the needed security tools and techniques.  The course also gives useful and practical steps to take to protect a business’ operations.

Cybersecurity for Small Businesses is self-paced and also offers best practices for guarding against cyber threats, potential computer weaknesses and the corrective actions for risk management.

Course participants completing the online course can earn a certificate of completion from the SBA.  The SBA Learning Center offers free courses covering topics such as Starting, Managing, or Financing a Business, and can be found at http://www.sba.gov/sba-learning-center.