I found this photo floating around the web. Apparently, in the 1950’s, Macy’s used dogs to keep their merchandise safe. They barked loudly and acted mean when necessary.
It’s sixty years later, and while I have a healthy respect for dogs, especially the big ones with barred teeth, I’m hoping this isn’t your only line of defense. And, since October is National Cybersecurity Awareness month, I thought we would review some cybersecurity details.
SMALL BUSINESSES ARE ATTACKED BY HACKERS 3X MORE THAN LARGER ONES
Do you feel secure from cyber attacks because you have a smaller business? Maybe you thought that you couldn’t possibly have anything that a hacker could want?
A new report out by cybersecurity firm Barracuda Networks analyzed millions of emails across thousands of organizations. It found employees at small companies (less than 100 employees) saw 350% more social engineering attacks than those at larger ones.
Why? … Small Companies Tend to Spend Less on Cybersecurity. When you’re running a small business, it’s often a juggling act of where to prioritize your cash. You may know cybersecurity is important, but it may not be at the top of your list.
Small business leaders often don’t spend as much as they should on their IT security. They may buy an antivirus program and think that’s enough to cover them. But with the expansion of technology to the cloud, that’s just one small layer. You need several more for adequate security.
Hackers know all this and see small businesses as an easier target. They can do much less work to get a payout than they would trying to hack into an enterprise corporation.
Every Business Has “HackWorthy” Resources
Every business, even a 1-person shop, has data that’s worth scoring for a hacker. Credit card numbers, SSNs, tax ID numbers, and email addresses are all valuable. Cyber criminals sell these on the Dark Web. From there, other criminals use them for identity theft.
Small Businesses Can Provide Entry Into Larger Ones
If a hacker can breach the network of a small business, they can often make a larger score.
Many smaller companies provide services to larger companies including digital marketing, website management, accounting, and more.
Vendors are often digitally connected to their client’s systems. This type of relationship can enable a multi-company breach. While hackers don’t need that connection to hack you, it is a nice bonus.
Small Business Owners Are Unprepared for Ransomware
Ransomware has been one of the fastest-growing cyber attacks of the last decade. So far in 2022, over 71% of surveyed organizations experienced ransomware attacks. An average of 63% of companies pay the attacker money in hopes of getting a key to decrypt the ransomware.
What can you do? Cyber criminals have to make use of the network to achieve their ends, so the network is the ultimate source of compromise.
Think Before You Click: If a link looks a little off, think before you click. It could be an attempt to get sensitive information or install malware.
Patch Your Software: Don’t delay — If you see a software update notification, act promptly. Better yet, turn on automatic updates.
Use Strong Passwords: Use passwords that are long, unique, and randomly generated. Use password managers to generate and remember different, complex passwords for each of your accounts. A passwords manager will encrypt passwords securing them for you!
Enable Multi-Factor Authentication: You need more than a password to protect your online accounts, and enabling MFA makes you significantly less likely to get hacked.
Subscribe to a Comp-U-Talk Security Service: You’re small. We get that. Money doesn’t grow on trees. We understand that too. So start with our Stop-the-Hacker service. It is a monitoring service that specifically watches for hacker activities. It finds and stops hidden threats that sneak past your antivirus and firewall services. It combines automated detection with real human threat hunters so even the most advanced threat actors won’t stand a chance. And, it is super affordable at $6/month per end point. Give us call and we can get you started.
Stay Safe,
Stay Healthy,
~Janet
