NIST Offers Cybersecurity Guide for Self-Employed People

Many people work for themselves in the United States. They run small businesses alone. These people have to protect their business from cyberattacks by themselves. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, has made a new guide to help them.

The guide is for “solopreneurs.” A solopreneur is a person who is the only employee of their business. In the United States, more than 28 million small businesses have only one worker. The guide teaches basic cybersecurity steps that solopreneurs can do easily.

The guide says solopreneurs do not need to be experts. They can do many cybersecurity actions with little technical knowledge and little money. For example, solopreneurs should change default passwords on devices like Wi-Fi routers. Default passwords are easy for criminals to find.

The guide also gives tools to help solopreneurs. It has worksheets to list important items and track actions. It shows examples of a lawyer, an artist, and a business consultant to help solopreneurs plan their security. The guide is a good start for protecting a small business.