Cyber attacks and security threats are becoming more and more commonplace, given that a lot of businesses have gone digital. Businesses, no matter how big or small, should enact measures that protect their data as well as sensitive customer information from security breaches from their system. As a small business owner, learning about these types of security threats will allow you to identify ways for you to protect your business. Through understanding how these security threats work, you can design risk mitigation and the right security protocols to ensure that they don’t happen in the first place.
Here are a few of the biggest security threats that confront your small business.
A body of research shows that over 50 percent of startups and small businesses go through a cyber attack each year. Approximately 60 percent of these compromised companies close down shop within the next six months. These statistics show that being content with minimal cybersecurity measures is no longer the right path. For this reason, businesses should be ready to invest in technology and personnel that can reinforce their security measures.
Numerous business owners today actually think that they could not possibly be targets for data threats. For this reason, a lot of organization become more partial to neglecting or misunderstanding several kinds of threats. Targeted cyber attacks, or those attacks on company data that are done by brave teenagers or international organized crime syndicates, are external risks that can remove data for a long time. For example, phishing attacks which are sophisticated threats that can result in a loss of business. Companies should implement action plans that would provide their system with better security against such cyber attacks.
Data breaches that range from deliberate leaks from unsatisfied employees to blunders concerning forgotten laptops are internal risks because the threat originates from inside the organization. Businesses should enact programs that would help their employees become more aware of the right data security steps to prevent these types of breaches from taking place. Although it is important to fortify internal systems and workforce, experienced security services can also definitely help mitigate risks.
As per a recent study, a considerable number of confirmed security breaches involved taking advantage of weak, stolen, or default passwords. This lends credence to the fact that most businesses these days are still employing single factor authentication. Companies are reluctant to implement multi-factor authentication due to the fact they think that this would adversely affect user experience. Nonetheless, even the general public is increasingly understanding of the threats of stolen identities and vulnerable data. Industry professionals expect that this awareness will influence more organizations to opt for multi-factor authentication processes.