Sounds scary but it’ll never happen to me. That’s one of the most common thoughts small business owners have upon hearing about other companies attacked by hackers. In the case of cybersecurity, ignorance is bliss for small businesses.
Until it’s not.
IT security threats are real. Every year, companies lose approximately $445 billion to cybercrime. 70% of those organizations are small and medium-sized businesses. These threats are serious and costly.
Small businesses make up the biggest demographic hit by hackers often due to their naïve approach to IT cybersecurity and lack of proper training. This doesn’t have to be the case for your business. Here are a few tips to help you protect your digital assets and business intelligence.
Cybersecurity Starts With Your Employees
Consider how much access you give your employees to sensitive customer and company data. A lot, right? Every employee, from the custodial team member to the top executive, has access to at least a portion of private material in your business. Every person, every account, and every device connected to your network is an open line for a malicious attack.
47% of cybercrime losses track back to insider behavior. From phishing emails and malware to unsecure devices, does your team understand how to best protect your valuable data? If not, you’re putting your company at risk.
With a little bit of education for you and your employees, you can put up the first line of defense against common IT security threats plaguing small businesses around the world.
Ransomware
Think ransomware is just an IT security buzzword to get you to invest in extra protection? Think again.
Almost a quarter of businesses with under 1,000 employees had to halt business operations immediately after they experienced a ransomware attack, according to a report by Osterman Research. That resulted in about a 15% decrease in revenue. A recent CNN report also found that small businesses lost over $100,000 per ransomware attack.
Ransomware is a fast growing threat where hackers take your computers and business intelligence hostage and demand a ransom to get it back (and even getting the files back is never a guarantee). It’s scary. It’s costly. And it’s destructive. Often these attacks can start because an employee clicks on a malicious link in an email. Training your team to identify threats before they’re clicked can save you hours of downtime, and quite possibly, your business.
The Threats Continue to Spread. Are You Protected?
These threats will only continue to spread as Big Data and business intelligence become more prevalent in the digital world. Is your business ready and protected? More importantly, are your employees trained and ready to stop these threats before they become an expensive problem?
If you’re trying to be the first line of defense for your IT, you’re putting your business, employees, and customers at risk. Managed service providers can take the burden of IT security off your shoulders. Let [company_short] help educate your business to prevent cyber crime in the first place. Couple that knowledge with the right security software and you could quickly become one of the businesses hackers hate. Contact us to learn more about how to get started.