Data is currency in today’s world. It is the most valuable item that someone can steal and it’s essential that you do everything you can to protect your data.
Home owners always have house insurance and always lock the door before going to bed. When you have a business vehicle, you insure it, you probably install an alarm, and you always lock it. The simple act of locking your house or vehicle minimises the chance of someone stealing from you.
Every business needs to worry about cyber security
Cyber-crime is more sinister, as protecting your data is not as simple as locking a door. Crimes range from:
- Opportunistic attacks where hackers try every ‘door’ until they find one that’s ‘unlocked’
- Carefully planned attacks on high value targets
- Ransom attacks that lock you out of everything and require a ransom payment before they give it back
- Attacks on software, where teams of criminals work together to attack companies, software and apps that you use in order to gain access to your information
Just like a locked door on your house or car, good cyber security practices won’t stop attacks from happening, but it does protect your data enough to stop the majority of hackers from getting in.
Cyber-crime is growing
Cyber-crime is growing so quickly that cyber insurance is fast overtaking all other insurances to become the most needed – and most claimed – insurance. That is why you can’t get cyber insurance unless you have all the right layers of cyber security protection in place.
Small and medium sized businesses are most at risk
It’s common for small and medium sized businesses to think that
it won’t happen to them as their data isn’t valuable enough to make them a target. This is a mistake. According to IBM, 62% of all cyber-attacks are targeted towards small and medium sized businesses.
Small businesses are easy targets due to the ease of penetration. I.e. most don’t ‘lock their doors’. A majority of small businesses don’t secure their data properly, if at all. Therefore they often become victims of opportunistic attacks where hackers trawl for vulnerabilities, and exploit everything they find. Hackers might:
- steal or expose confidential company information or customers’ personal information
- steal money
- run socially engineered attacks on your customers
- lock you out of all your cloud-based apps by changing the password and ‘owner’ information
- sell your data on the dark web
- and more.
While some businesses manage to recover their losses, others are not so lucky and have to shut down.
You must protect your data properly
Cyber criminals don’t care who you are. It doesn’t matter whether you are a big business, small business or an individual. They will take everything they can get. Every bit of data has value to them.
From your perspective, every bit of data you lose is damaging. If they steal:
Customers’ personal information
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- your reputation may be ruined
- those customers may be attacked
- you may lose customers
- future business with new customers may be in jeopardy
Client information
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- hackers may then attack your clients
- your brand may be used in a social engineering hack
- current and future business is at risk
Company information
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- if you lose company information, the business may not be able to operate
- it can take months – even years – to recover
- the business is at risk of closure
Personal information
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- your identity can be used for fraudulent activities
Financial information
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- current and future revenue may be syphoned
- the business may not survive if cashflow is gone
Any and all stolen information may be bought and sold on the dark web, subjecting you, your customers and clients to multiple attacks.
Think you’re covered?
Even if you have some security in place, you probably aren’t fully protected. Check out our handy
cyber security checklist to make sure you have the right protection in place.
Our
Small Business Support Package will give you total peace of mind. Experts in cyber security and data recovery, we can set up and manage the whole lot for you. We will protect your data so your doors are always locked and give you the best chance of surviving an attack.
Because it’s no longer a matter of IF you will be attacked, it’s WHEN.
