Cybersecurity Basics for Hampton Roads Businesses
Cybersecurity basics are the everyday habits and tools that protect a business online. They matter because online crime is costly. In 2025, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 1,008,597 complaints. Reported losses reached $20.877 billion. However, the methods behind these attacks and the defenses against them are well documented. Here are five cybersecurity basics every Hampton Roads business should have in place.
1. Start Your Cybersecurity Basics With Multi-Factor Authentication
First, turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA). It adds a second step at sign-in, such as a code on your phone. Use it for email, remote access, banking and cloud apps. CISA says users who enable MFA are “significantly less likely to get hacked.” That is why it comes first among these cybersecurity basics.
2. Patch Promptly
Next, keep your software up to date. That includes operating systems, firewalls, browsers and business apps. Updates close security holes that attackers look for. In fact, Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report found that 31% of breaches start with a software vulnerability. That now tops stolen passwords as the most common way in. So patching is a cybersecurity basic that needs a routine.
3. Keep Tested, Offline Backups
Ransomware locks your files and demands payment to unlock them. The same Verizon report found that 48% of breaches involve ransomware. For this reason, keep at least one backup copy that ransomware cannot reach. Also, test a restore on a regular schedule. Then you know the backup works before you need it. Of all the cybersecurity basics, backups are the one that lets you recover.
4. Verify Payment Changes by Phone
Business email compromise is a costly scam. A criminal poses as a vendor, executive or client and asks you to send money to a new account. In 2025, the FBI received 24,768 complaints about it. Reported losses topped $3 billion. So make it a rule: confirm any change to bank or wire details with a phone call. Also, call a number you already have on file, not one from the email. This cybersecurity basic costs nothing but a phone call.
5. Make Training Part of Your Cybersecurity Basics
Finally, train your team to spot phishing. Training rounds out the cybersecurity basics on this list. Phishing and spoofing was the most reported crime type in 2025, with 191,561 complaints to the FBI. Phones need attention too. Verizon reports 40% higher click rates on mobile devices. So cover phones as well as computers in every session.
Where to Start With Cybersecurity Basics
Computer Networks, Inc. helps businesses across Hampton Roads and coastal Virginia put these cybersecurity basics in place. We also help keep them working. Learn more about our cybersecurity services, or contact us at (757) 333-3299.
Sources
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 IC3 Annual Report
- Verizon, 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report
- CISA, More than a Password
