Startup Mistake No. 1: Making Security an Afterthought

When you consider the long and hard haul most startups have from product conception to success, you can understand how seemingly mundane things like firewalls, antimalware and network security might fall by the wayside.

But those all-nighters spent coding and perfecting your web application or mobile application will be for naught if a hacker gets his hands on your intellectual property and wrecks your shop.

Writers Tim Devaney and Tom Stein have noticed the dangerous disregard for strong security measures in the startup community and warn startups to take action in an article for ReadWriteWeb’s startup channel.

Trouble is, by putting off these critical steps, your startup risks the real possibility that there will be no "later." If some other company steals your intellectual property, your dreams can give way to lights out, a phone call to the lawyer, and "Who wants some vodka in their Red Bull?"

And don't think that you're safe just because you're small. "IP theft is happening a lot more in startups," says Chris Porter, senior security analyst at Verizon and coauthor of Verizon's recently released 2012 Data Breach Investigations Report. "IP theft and other data breaches at startups are definitely trending up."

It’s bad enough that many startups have to deal with uninspired clones that try to create carbon copies of their ideas after they debut, as Pinspire has done to Pinterest. But having good information security staff and solutions can help a startup keep its cards close to the vest.

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