NEW YORK (WWTI) — The Department of Financial Services is working to provide free resources for small businesses to improve cybersecurity.

The New York State Department of Financial Services has announced their partnership with Global Cyber Alliance to help bring a “cybersecurity toolkit” to small businesses in the State. The DFS stated that this partnership is following many small businesses switch to online and remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The DFS included that according to the 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigation report, more than 43% of cyberattacks are targeted at small businesses.

“DFS is committed to supporting small businesses that are the backbone of the economy,” said Superintendent of Financial Services Linda A. Lacewell. “As small businesses adapt to the new demands of doing business online, they need to have the tools to guard against cybercrime. This toolkit provides free resources for small businesses to bolster their cybersecurity.” 

The Department of Financial Services and Global Cyber Alliance free cybersecurity toolkit will include topics such as identifying hardware and software, updating defenses against cyber threats, strengthening passwords and multi-factor authentication, backing up and recovering data and protecting email systems.

The full toolkit and DFS sample cybersecurity policies can be found on the Department of Financial Services website.