Security
Data protection
SMEs

Cybersecurity for a business in Algeria: where should you start?

Start with the accounts and information your business needs to keep working. Assign an owner, strengthen access and prove that essential data can be restored. This gives a small business in Algeria a workable first scope before it chooses more tools. The immediate priority might be an email account used to recover every other service, rather than the most expensive device. This guide explains how to make those decisions and separates practical recommendations from duties established in the official legal texts.

The first decisions

Choose the first action by the business effect of losing, changing or exposing an important asset.
Protect sensitive accounts with multifactor authentication and a managed recovery process.
A backup supports recovery only when you have checked that the needed information can be restored and used.
Information-system security responsibility and the personal-data protection delegate are distinct functions in the legal texts.
Give staff a clear reporting route and keep incident contacts accessible when ordinary systems fail.

Match the starting point to a business dependency

These examples illustrate prioritization. They are not reported customer incidents or a detailed statutory checklist.

Business dependency	Possible consequence	First action	Evidence to keep
Email controls other account recovery	Loss of several services	Protect sign-in and recovery	MFA tested, recovery understood
Essential files on one device	Work stops when it fails	Back up and restore safely	Usable restored file, recorded result
Shared software login	Unclear accountability	Assign access by role	Permissions checked in use
Payment changes arrive by message	Possible payment diversion	Confirm through a known channel	Staff can apply the verification rule
Customer or learner records	Disclosure of personal information	Map processing and access	Purpose, location and ownership recorded

Cybersecurity includes keeping the business operational

Cybersecurity covers the protection of systems, accounts and information alongside the ability to respond and restore operations. A manager can assess it through practical questions: who can read the records, who can change them, and what happens when the service is unavailable? A useful protection should address the consequences of those events.

NIST’s Small Business Quick-Start Guide, SP 1300, published in February 2024, uses six functions: Govern, Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover. They keep leadership, people and recovery in the same discussion as technical safeguards. The framework is voluntary guidance. It is not an Algerian legal requirement or a certificate awarded for completing a checklist.

List the assets and dependencies that matter

An asset inventory identifies what must work for the business to operate. Include email, domain registration, hosting, devices, applications, advertising accounts and important records. Ask staff about services they use directly, because information may be stored outside the list of tools formally purchased by the organization.

For each asset, identify its internal owner, administrator, data location and recovery route. Then describe the effect of interruption, disclosure or unauthorized change. The price of a device is a poor substitute for this assessment: an inexpensive account can control access to several critical services. NIST recommends maintaining an inventory and prioritizing the classification of business data as part of understanding risk.

Record the asset, its business use and its internal owner.
Identify access holders, providers and data locations.
Describe the effect of loss, alteration or unauthorized access.
Choose a priority action and an observable completion check.

Protect account recovery as well as sign-in

Multifactor authentication adds another verification factor to the password. NIST recommends requiring it on accounts that offer it, starting with the most sensitive information. Review email, hosting and password managers early, along with accounts that handle finance or control important records. Change default passwords and use strong, different passwords for separate accounts.

Recovery settings deserve the same attention. Check who controls the recovery channels and what happens when that person leaves. Keep emergency recovery methods available to authorized people with controlled access. Somu Raqami recommends testing the new sign-in method before removing the previous access route, so that a configuration change does not lock the organization out.

Give people the permissions their work requires

Access should follow the task, and change when the task changes. NIST recommends restricting sensitive information to staff who need it and removing access when it is no longer required. Reading an invoice, changing it, exporting customer records and administering users are different operations; they do not automatically belong in the same account profile.

Individual accounts make responsibility clearer than a login shared by the whole team. Define outside-provider access by the system, authorized work, approving person and end of access. Review those arrangements when roles or contracts change. These are operating recommendations: a login history alone does not satisfy every obligation associated with processing personal information.

Turn backups into a demonstrated recovery process

A useful backup lets you recover information that the business can use. NIST recommends regular backups, testing them and assessing their integrity before recovery after an incident. Set the frequency around how much recent work you can afford to lose. This guide does not prescribe one backup interval for every business because their operating consequences differ.

Test restoration in a suitable environment without overwriting production data. Open recovered files and check the components the application needs, which may include documents and configuration as well as its database. Record the backup version, result and failed steps. A separate copy and controlled deletion rights can reduce reliance on one location, while written instructions make the process repeatable by the authorized owner.

Identify the information needed to resume priority work.
Check backup location and who can change or delete copies.
Perform a safe restore and record its result.
Keep instructions that the authorized owner can follow.

Assign updates and prepare for the change

Regular operating-system and software updates are among NIST’s recommended protections. Identify who tracks the versions of the website, extensions, applications and devices. An available patch does not help if responsibility for applying it is unclear or an overlooked device remains outside maintenance.

For an important system, Somu Raqami recommends a usable backup and a rollback route before the change. Afterward, check the functions people depend on: sign-in, registration, invoicing or message delivery, as appropriate. The purpose is to apply necessary fixes while keeping work usable. Loading the home page is not evidence that every important function still works.

Train the decisions staff actually make

Useful training teaches a person what to do when a request looks suspicious. NIST recommends helping employees recognize common attacks, report suspicious activity and perform basic security tasks. Use examples relevant to their work and identify them as training examples, without inventing a customer incident or a history of attacks on your own business.

For example, a message might urgently request a change to payment details. A practical rule proposed by Somu Raqami is to confirm the change through contact details already known independently of that message. Explain where to report the concern and what information to include. Check whether the employee can perform that action; attendance at a presentation does not demonstrate the skill.

Understand the Algerian duties behind the roles

Article 38 of Law 18-07 of 10 June 2018 requires appropriate technical and organizational measures for personal data, with security suited to the processing risks and nature of the information. Article 39 addresses the processor’s guarantees and contractual arrangements. Prepare a description of customer, employee or learner information, its purposes and the parties that handle it.

Law 25-11 of 24 July 2025 adds a personal-data protection delegate under Article 41 bis, a register of processing activities under Article 41 bis 2, and an automated record of operations under Article 41 bis 3. These responsibilities are not fulfilled merely by buying a security product. Review how the relevant requirements apply and are implemented with a qualified adviser.

Article 41 of Presidential Decree 20-05 of 20 January 2020 requires designation of a person responsible for information-system security and expressly includes private operators. Decree 25-298 of 10 November 2025 amends Article 3, rather than Article 41. The information-system security role and data protection delegate are distinct functions in these texts and should be distinguished when assigning responsibilities.

Prepare incident decisions while systems are available

An incident response plan identifies who to call, who can decide and what each person is authorized to do. NIST recommends recording communication and reporting responsibilities required by laws, regulations, contracts and policies. Keep a version accessible if email or the main application becomes unavailable, including management and technical support contacts.

When an unusual alert or loss of access appears, record the symptoms and time, preserve available information and follow the authorized owner’s containment instructions. Avoid removing information needed for assessment before the situation has been reviewed. Recovery should check the restored data and conditions for resuming work. A review afterward records lessons and changes the plan rather than simply marking the incident closed.

Look for evidence of improvement and assign upkeep

Practical evidence includes a maintained inventory, tested multifactor sign-in, reviewed permissions, a documented restore and an exercised contact procedure. These show the work performed within the observed scope. They do not certify the organization or guarantee that no future incident will occur. Review them when your tools, people and dependencies change.

Your team can carry out the actions it understands and commission a defined scope for the rest. Somu Raqami offers readiness assessment, hardening and training, quoted based on the accounts, systems and changes involved. Ask for a delivery record stating what changed, what remains open and who maintains it. That makes the engagement useful after the configuration work has ended.

Frequently asked questions

Does a small business need cybersecurity?

Yes, when accounts, files or digital services are necessary to its operations. Start with critical dependencies and the ability to recover access. NIST’s small-business guide provides a risk-based starting point; it does not assume that every organization should buy a large security platform.

Is antivirus enough?

Protection also involves access controls, updates, backups and staff decisions. NIST connects governance, protection, detection, response and recovery. Choose device protection within that wider arrangement, then establish who configures it, reviews its alerts and keeps it working. The installed product alone does not demonstrate those activities.

How does a tested backup differ from a saved copy?

A saved copy exists; a tested backup has been restored and checked for use. An application may need its database, documents and configuration together. Record what the test covered and whether it worked, rather than assuming that recovering one file proves recovery of the complete system.

Is the security officer the data protection delegate?

The texts establish distinct functions: Article 41 of Decree 20-05 concerns information-system security, while Article 41 bis added by Law 25-11 concerns the personal-data protection delegate. Do not assume that a generic job title fulfils both. Review the applicable conditions and arrangements for your organization.

Is a readiness assessment a penetration test?

The assessment described here reviews practices, settings, access and backups within an authorized scope. Penetration testing is a separate specialized engagement with its own execution arrangements. Somu Raqami’s current offering covers readiness, hardening and training, without promising a penetration test or compliance certification.

Your next step

Cybersecurity supportReadiness assessment, configuration changes, restore checks and staff training.The free diagnosticReview your organization before selecting the first improvement.The strategy in your businessConnect data protection to your wider transformation priorities.Learning platforms and learner dataUnderstand platform choices and personal-information responsibilities.