Cybersecurity has become one of the most important topics for businesses of all sizes, all around the world. While the headlines might talk about attacks on larger and better-known businesses, small and medium companies are at just as much, if not an even bigger risk of cyberattacks than global corporations. In fact, hackers will often single out small businesses since the lack of security makes them easier targets, especially when coupled with a lack of knowledge or the belief that some small business owners hold that it isn’t going to happen to them because their company is too small. The truth is that no business is safe these days. These are some of the most common cybersecurity risks that small and medium companies face.
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Data Breaches
The data that your business collects is your most valuable asset and the one thing that cybercriminals are going to be trying to steal. If you provide a product or service to your customers, chances are that you have to collect some personal data on them in order to do this. For many small businesses today, it’s a question of when, rather than if, a data breach is going to happen. Protect your customer data and improve cybersecurity in your small business by outsourcing to network security experts like outsourceIT.
Social Engineering
If you believed everything you saw on TV, it would be easy to assume that most cybercriminals get into business networks through a serious of complicated-looking coding and system infiltration. However, while this certainly does happen, social engineering poses the biggest risk to small businesses. In this situation, a phishing email or text message might be sent to an employee to ask them to log into a system where data is kept, for example. Believing that the message has come from a legitimate source, the employee will log in – only to unknowingly hand their login details over to the hackers, who now have access.
Also check: Industrial Cybersecurity
Ransomware
Hackers and cybercriminals holding data to ransom is one of the most uncommon types of attack, but it’s very scary when it does happen and businesses often have no choice but to pay the amount demanded, with no guarantee that their data isn’t going to be leaked anyway. It’s important to ensure that your small business is prepared for a ransomware attack since they are one of the most dangerous that a company can face. Make sure that your business insurance policy covers you in the event of a ransomware attack.
Human Error
Human error still accounts for one of the biggest risks today when it comes to small business cybersecurity. At times, employees or even business owners who don’t have the necessary education could make small yet serious mistakes that threaten to put the business at risk. Because of this, cybersecurity training and education on an ongoing basis to ensure that everybody in the business stays up to date is crucial.
Small and medium businesses are often the biggest targets for cybercriminals. These are just some of the main risks that they face.
