Considering that there aren’t enough qualified cybersecurity professionals in the world, it might be tempting to think that your business doesn’t need to worry. However, cybersecurity threats have become so common that all businesses need to take these matters seriously. In today’s internet and technology-driven world, going without adequate cybersecurity is one of the worst mistakes you could make. For those who might remain unconvinced, let’s discuss a few other reasons that cybersecurity matters to every business. We will also discuss simple steps that any business can take to increase their security and avoid most of the common attack vectors.
The Threat Grows Worse Every Year
When you start looking at cybersecurity statistics, it seems that the problem is growing worse and worse with each passing year. When we look at this report, we can see just how much the problem has grown since 2009. As you can see, the total number of known malware infections was 12.4 million in 2009. By 2018, that number had increased to about 812 million.
To be fair, some numbers have shown a drop-off in these incidents over the last year or so. However, if that is the case, it is only because people are beginning to take these cyber-threats a lot more seriously.
Small Businesses May Be More Likely Targets
A lot of people assume that small businesses are less likely to be targeted. However, that’s not always the case. It is indeed true that large corporations are targeted more often, largely because they have a lot more money. A hacker can potentially get a much larger payout from one of those companies.
However, there is one little factor that you might not have considered: Your small business is probably a lot easier to compromise than a Fortune 500 company. You probably can’t afford the kind of tight security that a large company would have, and your network is likely to be far less well-protected. This is why 43% of all known data breaches targeted small businesses, according to this report. Admittedly, this data is from 2015, but the trend has continued to the present day.
Cybercrime Poses A Multi-Layered Threat
There are many ways in which businesses can be ruined by cybercrime. It is estimated that 60% of all small businesses will go out of business after a major data breach. That makes a lot of sense because small businesses usually can’t absorb the kind of huge losses that can result from this kind of incident.
However, these people can do a lot more than take your money. When a company suffers a major data breach, the law requires the incident to be made public. Companies that fail to do this will face large fines and a serious loss of reputation. As an example of this, we might point to the well-known Uber hack of 2016. Company officials covered up this massive data breach and have since been subject to serious penalties.
For a large and well-known company like Uber, this was especially damaging. Once your customer base has lost trust in your ability to protect their information, they will no longer be willing to give you information about themselves. Their business model definitely required good information-gathering in terms of both employees and clients, so this loss of trust effectively ended their ride-sharing business.
Ways To Increase Cybersecurity For Your Business
Now you hopefully understand how important these matters are. And so, let’s talk about some of the things you can do to increase cybersecurity for your business.
- Acquire a good VPN service and make sure everyone is using it for work
- Consider the use of network monitoring software
- Institute a strong password policy, to be enforced by only a few trustworthy people
- Always keep up-to-date backups to prevent data loss
- Avoid “BYOD” (bring your own device) policies if your company handles a lot of sensitive data
- Make sure that all computers lock their screens after five minutes of inactivity (or less)
- Limit the use of non-work-related apps and programs while connected to your company network
- Do not allow anyone except system administrators to have access to the control panel or the settings menu
- Consider the use of remote monitoring software so that all the traffic on your private network can be seen at a central location
Conclusion
Although this point should be obvious by now, every business needs to provide for cybersecurity to one degree or another. There is no business too big or too small for this, and that’s where you need competent cybersecurity professionals to get the job done. With the loss of money, privacy, and customer trust that can occur from even a single high-profile data breach, it is well worth your time and money to build those virtual defenses tall and strong. If you are in need of some good advice, or perhaps some good people, you might want to call PCH Technologies at (856) 754-7500.