Even with recent news events inspiring fears of major cyber attacks, threats occur daily. And not all cyber attacks make news because they target a large company. Indeed, many small to medium-size businesses are also at risk, and need to defend themselves. Read on to learn what threats to look for, and how to protect your data, applications and people.
Threats to Watch For
According to a 2021 report from CompTIA, small to medium-size businesses (SMBs), are the targets of 43% of cyberattacks, yet 70% are unprepared. What can be done to change that balance? Threats range from attacks on the cloud to social engineering (such as phishing) attacks that can introduce malware, including ransomware, into a company’s system. These attacks can result in loss of money due to downtime along with fines for regulatory noncompliance; loss of data to ransomware and malware, due to theft and/or compromise; and loss of trust and reputation if clients and other parties can’t trust your business to keep their data safe. Yet what all these statistics and consequences can do is strengthen a company’s resolve to protect itself from cyberattack.
Keeping Your Business Safe
Many tools are available for protection from cyberattacks, and your workers are among the most important. A business still needs to maintain current anti-virus and anti-malware definitions along with the most current operating system patches to protect its network. When using the cloud, encryption of data both in-transit and at rest keeps it safe from loss or compromise. All these safeguards are essential, though they are just part of a plan. When employees are properly trained in cybersecurity policies and best practices, they can stop intrusions of malware. When workers implement strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, they can protect the entire network. By knowing what a phishing email looks like, they can keep from clicking malicious links and outsmarting social engineering attacks designed to introduce malware.
While cyberattacks are always increasing, there are ways to keep your business, its assets and its reputation safe. For help in developing a plan, contact your trusted technology advisor today.
