Introduction:
More than three-in-five SMBs were targeted by a cyberattack in2021. That’s huge.
With the rise of new technology and its advanced features, businesses must prioritize cybersecurity to stay protected. It's no surprise that small businesses—often lacking an internal IT department—are frequently targeted by cyberattacks and breaches.
Understanding the risks and threats posed by these cybersecurity challenges is essential for safeguarding your business operations. In this article, we'll discuss the most common threats small businesses face and provide strategies for effectively managing and avoiding them.
What is cybersecurity and why is it so important?
You’ve likely heard the term “cybersecurity ” before. As a refresher for this conversation, it refers to the protection of internet-based systems. It is the practice of protecting systems, networks, and data from digital attacks, unauthorized access, or theft.
But how do businesses approach cybersecurity? It involves using techniques like encryption, firewalls, and antivirus software to safeguard sensitive information and maintain business operations.
Even businesses with just a handful of digital processes—online banking, using a corporate credit card, maintaining a GoogleBusiness profile, or standing up an informational website—need to prioritize cybersecurity. With technology advancing rapidly, even the most analog businesses can develop small vulnerabilities that, if not properly maintained, could lead to cybersecurity breaches.
Protecting your business’s information is crucial, but it’s equally important--and in many cases, legally required--to protect your customer and client information as well.
When your customers trust you as a partner, they also entrust you with the responsibility of keeping their data and information secure. Therefore, your cybersecurity practices must extend beyond your own data to include all the data that you maintain on behalf of others. By prioritizing cybersecurity, you can improve security posture, reduce risk, achieve continuous compliance.
Top Five Common Threats:
There are many threats that businesses face when it comes to security. In this article, we will share the five that are the most common.
1. Phishing: 83%of companies targeted are targeted with phishing attacks. Phishing is a type of social engineering attack where attackers disguise themselves as trustworthy entities to trick employees into revealing sensitive information such as login credentials, financial details, or personal information, or into giving away access to an account.
a. Example: You may receive an email asking you to follow a specific link or to download a file. The sender can be disguised as a trusted account, only identified by a simple spelling variation in an email address.
2. Weak Passwords and CredentialStuffing: 80% of data breaches involve a weak or compromised password, according to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report. This happens when users apply a weak and easily guessable password, and a hacker guesses the password to gain access to an account. It can also occur when a user uses a single, common password that they re-use on other sites.
a. Example: An employee’s password for their personal email account is leaked in a data breach. Because the employee uses the same password for multiple accounts, this could lead to hackers accessing your business systems via that employee’s login.
3. Cloud Vulnerabilities: Over 45%of data breaches are cloud-based, according to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report. As small businesses increasingly rely on cloud services, cloud-specific vulnerabilities due to user error, like misconfigurations, lack of encryption, and insecure APIs, are becoming prevalent.
a. Example: Your small e-commerce company using a cloud-based platform has accidentally misconfigured the server. Hackers realize that they can access unencrypted customer data due to this misconfiguration.
4. Third Party Vendor Risks: Third-party attacks account for 29% of data breaches. Small businesses often rely on third-party vendors for IT services, payment processing, and other critical functions. These vendors can introduce security risks if their systems are compromised. This is an example of why your security practices must extend to partner and customer data that you maintain.
a. Example: Your small business uses a third-party payroll service provider. While your systems were not breached, the payroll service provider’s systems were hacked. Because they maintain your data, the financial details of your employees were exposed by the third party.
5. Malware and Ransomware: 64% of organizations targeted were infected with ransomware in 2022. Ransomware is the most common form of Malware, (which includes viruses, trojans, ransomware, and spyware), malicious software designed to infiltrate, damage, or steal information from computers and networks. Malware often works in conjunction with phishing, which is usually the lead-in to deliver a malware attack.
a. Example: A small business provider might inadvertently download malware that infects their entire network, jeopardizing patient records.
How To Protect Your Business:
As you can see, there are many threats that businesses face when it comes to the online world. Most are preventable and can be managed in a way that can minimize harm and damage to the business. Here are a few tips to protect your business from cybersecurity threats:
1. Educate employees on standard security protocols.You can train your employees to identify fictious information that may have misleading click bait materials. For example, your employees can take regular trainings to monitor their email and phones to keep an eye out for suspicious emails and any downloads that may lead to viruses. Even training your employees enough to second guess requests suspicious requests can save your business a massive and costly headache.
2. Require strong passwords and MFA(Multi-factor Authentication). These are crucial and important requirements to keeping your business safe. Ensuring that MFA is set up allows for a strong security system to protect from hackers accessing important information that may be found in emails or business platforms. This is the best defense against weak passwords, credential stuffing, and stolen information.
3. SecureWi-Fi networks. Wi-Fi networks can be a point of access for security breaches and attacks. It is essential to ensure that your business has a safe, password protected network that keeps all information and data protected.
These are just a few of the ways that you can protect your business from cybersecurity threats and attacks. For information on more kinds of threats, check out this blog from TitanFile.
Conclusion:
Cybersecurity is a critical aspect of running a small business in today's digital world.Understanding and addressing common threats like phishing, weak passwords, cloud vulnerabilities, and third-party risks are essential for protecting your business and customer data.
By taking proactive measures—such as educating employees, using strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, and securing Wi-Fi networks—you can significantly reduce the risk of cyberattacks. Staying vigilant and informed about potential threats is the key to safeguarding your business from harm and ensuring long-term success.
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