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Cybersecurity is typically the last thought on the mind of a small business owner, it’s only the big businesses that get, right? Unfortunately, that is not the case. 61% of small to medium enterprises have reported to have been the victim of a cyberattack within the last year, and more than 40% of all data breaches happen through small to medium enterprises.
Considering the numbers, it’s only a matter of time until there is an attempted cyberattack on every business out there. The main question to ask is what can you do about it?
Overall Coverage
Cyberattacks can come in many shapes and from, all cyberattacks tend to be malicious, but they can go about this in different ways.
- Denial of service – Most commonly referred to as a DDoS attack, this attack aims to bring down a server by crippling it with a data overload.
- Data Theft – Data theft can include many types of cyberattacks, this is where preventative measures will matter the most.
Both attacks can cost your business money, data theft attacks can include not only the companies but customers banking information as well. Data theft is the most serious type of cyberattack that any business should do their best to prevent.
Data Theft
Data theft is not always as simple as just hacking into a system, and a good antivirus can only go so far. To best understand the precautions needed, it’s important to understand the ways that cyber criminals usually infiltrate systems. Understanding how they infiltrate systems, can help in formulating the best prevention.
- Malware – Malware can include viruses, ransomware, trojans, worms, spyware and other types of malicious software. This software is mostly aimed at either disrupting systems, acquisition of data or blackmailing the users/company. The best way to fight any nature of malware attack is to have a good antivirus installed with anti-ransomware and other protective features.
- Man In The Middle – Man in the middle or MitM attacks are becoming more frequent, with a lot of businesses giving employees the ability to work from home. MitM attacks intercept data between employees or clients and the server, stealing or manipulating data from this bridge. These are most common on public Wi-Fi services such as airports or coffee shops. Good security software does provide a VPN to help counter these attacks, but best practice is to avoid using public internet.
- Phishing attacks – Phishing attacks seem the simplest and, in theory, the easiest to stop, but they have been proven to be the most successful when stealing data. These attacks can come in many forms, such as simple emails, faked login pages, password attacks and most difficult to counter, social engineering.
Preventative Measures
Most data theft attacks can be kept at bay using good security software that’s kept up to date and checked for flaws regularly. Fortunately, most good security software providers offer a free system check to highlight weak points in a business’s full system, for which they will often be able to supply the remedy.
The big problem comes in at training staff to be able to spot a phishing or social engineering attack. Teaching team members to question any email that does not look like it is from a completely recognizable source such as Big Dollar Casino will be important. To stop social engineering attacks will require staff to be extremely vigilant, as these attacks can come from multiple sources. The most critical part is to never share any company data, no matter who asks.
Encourage staff to double-check on any requests for data, even if they are coming from within the company. It’s always better to take the extra minute to confirm the validity of a source than risk a data breach.
