Cybersecurity threats are a symptom of our increasingly-online working world. With an increasingly-mobile workforce, more people than ever doing business online, and increased access to the tools of the cybercriminal trade, it’s easier than ever to mount an attack on businesses, regardless of its size.

While you might think that small businesses could employ security through obscurity—that by being too small a target, criminals won’t be interested in mounting an attack—but that fails to account for the reality of cybercrime. It’s trivial for attackers to target hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses at once, and because of small businesses’ lower technological defenses, awareness of risk, and resources available to address cybersecurity.

If you own a small or medium-sized business, you have a lot to lose if hit with a cyber-attack. In fact, businesses with fewer than 500 employees lose on average $2.5 million per attack on their computer systems. Losing this amount of money can be devastating, which is why small businesses need to be aware of the threats and the steps they can take to stop them. Here are the top 5 security threats facing businesses of any size, as well as some tips to protect your business.

1. Phishing Attacks

Phishing is a hacking scheme that tricks users into downloading harmful messages or installing harmful software. Usually, a phishing attack will look like a regular email from a reputable organization, such as a vendor, coworker, supervisor, or even a third party. The email persuades the user to take action, either by clicking a link or downloading an attachment, and often features clickbait language designed to catch your eye. Once an employee opens the attachment or clicks the link, however, the hacker can install malicious software that targets the entire business. In a recent study from Cisco, 86% of organizations reported having at least one user connect to a phishing site.

While phishing attacks can be hard to combat, there are ways to improve your security and minimize your risk. These include having a strong email security gateway in place to prevent phishing emails from reaching employee inboxes, a robust phish-reporting solution, and comprehensive security awareness training of your staff.
 

2. Malware Attacks

The second biggest threat facing businesses is malware. Malware attacks include a variety of cyber threats, including viruses like Trojan horses, worms, and more. Malware is any malicious code that hackers write that can gain access to networks, steal data, or even destroy data on your computers. It usually comes from malicious website downloads, spam emails, or from connecting to other infected machines.

Malware attacks can be particularly damaging for your business: they can cripple your devices, necessitating expensive repairs or replacements; they can give attackers access to your proprietary or customer data, putting customers or employees at risk; and more. Especially businesses that have a bring-your-own-device policy for employees can be at risk, since personal devices are much more likely to be at risk from malicious downloads.

However, there are steps you can take to mitigate the risk from malware attacks. A comprehensive endpoint protection solution can protect your network’s devices from malware downloads and give admins a central control panel for managing devices and ensure security of every network device is up to date. Web security is also plays a vital role, stopping users from visiting malicious sites or downloading software altogether.

3. Ransomware

As one of the most lucrative forms of cyberattacks, ransomware attacks have become more common over the past few years. A hacker employing ransomware will break into a company’s network, encrypt their data so it cannot be used or accessed, and holding the data ransom for some amount of money. This leaves businesses with a hard choice to make: pay the ransom and lose a large sum of money, or lose the data that makes their business work.

Small businesses are particularly at risk from ransomware attacks, because attackers know that small businesses are less likely to back up their data, and they have a lower ability to absorb the downtime caused by a ransomware attack.

To prevent these attacks, endpoint protection services are of paramount importance to every business. If you don’t already have a comprehensive cloud backup solution in place, that’s another important way to protect your data from ransomware. Backing up your data in the cloud can also mitigate against other forms of data loss, such as natural disaster. With a proper backup solution, businesses can effectively treat ransomed data as lost, and recover from backup quickly without losing productivity.

4. Weak Passwords

Many businesses use multiple cloud-based services, all of which require different accounts. These services often contain sensitive data and financial information that can be compromised by using easily-guessed passwords, or the same password for multiple accounts. What’s more, many employees are unaware of the damage a weak password can cause: an average of 19% of enterprise professionals use easily guessed passwords, or share passwords across accounts.

To ensure your employees are using strong passwords, consider using password management software in your business. Business password management platforms help employees manage passwords for all of their accounts, and suggest strong passwords that can’t be easily cracked. Your business should also consider using multi-factor authentication technology, which requires more than just a password to access sensitive information. That way, even if a hacker manages to guess your password, they won’t be able to access your information with that alone.

5. Insider Threats

Finally, your own employees can pose a risk to your business’s cybersecurity. Company insiders can access critical data about your company, and they can cause harmful outcomes through greed, malice, ignorance, or even carelessness.

To block insider threats, your business needs a strong culture of security awareness within your organization. This will help stop insider threats caused by ignorance, and help employees recognize a breach before it’s become too bad.

ClowdCover Provides Businesses with Network Security Solutions
As business increasingly moves online, the threats your business faces have changed. If you haven’t invested in cybersecurity yet, or if you want to make a further investment in your company’s protections, ClowdCover in Baton Rouge, LA can provide needed services to keep your data and processes safe. We offer a number of business network security solutions to mitigate the threat of cyberattacks on your business, and we work with you to find a solution that works. As an experienced IT services provider, we offer a host of managed IT solutions for businesses to help them scale, or we work alongside internal IT teams and vendors to optimize their technology needs! Give us a call or contact us online to get started on a secure future!