18 Apr Cyber Threats: Why Being a Small Business Makes it Harder to Hide

It’s no secret that social security numbers, credit card information and personal health information is exchanged digitally on a daily basis. Spyware, phishing, and ransomware are correspondingly prevalent. What may be surprising is how unaware daily users are of the threat this poses to their business. A large percentage of people do not know how to identify malicious cyber sources, or how to protect their software.

Many entrepreneurial and small businesses consider malware attacks unlikely when compared to larger corporations, however the numbers reflect that small businesses account for 58% of victims. This is highly attributed to the fact that the majority of cyber offenders are opportunistic. While large corporations generally present the highest yield, small businesses remain vulnerable and profitable. This is compounded by the fact that small business in collaboration with larger companies may provide a gateway for cyber criminals to exploit.

This raises the question: how are cyber threats executed? According to a recent study by Symtanec’s 2018 Internet Security Threat Report, over 92% of cyber threats are delivered through email. On average, small businesses are reportedly receiving up to 90 malicious email per month. The effects of malware are devastating. Last year, an overall average exceeding 2.2 million dollars was lost by small business due to cyber-attacks. This was a culmination of dollars stolen and revenue lost by business disruption. Secure email networks can anticipate these threats, preventing malicious content from ever reaching your business, employees and clients.

Ransomware is another strategy of cyber crime, in which valuable information is removed from a network or device and held captive until a sum is payed. Instilling backup and recovery can protect your business from this threat by storing and restoring all valuable data.  Whether due to internal or external damages, the data is secure and readily accessible to business owners.

Irrefutably, the most effective IT security tactic is prevention. Tactics used by hackers and cyber criminals are increasingly cunning and adaptive. Recently, cyber-criminals have been escapading as Google, Microsoft technicians, and credit card companies. Effective network security set up by professionals who are highly trained and skilled is the most adaptive method of protecting your small business from the opposition.