Setting up a flourishing business is not an easy task. A lot of efforts, planning, capital, and hard work are involved in transforming an idea into a successful venture. And while most businessmen concentrate on sales, marketing, and financial aspects of a business, they often tend to ignore security. This usually occurs because firstly, people aren’t truly aware of the dangers of cyber attacks, and secondly, even if they are aware, they tend to think it won’t happen to them. This ignorance or negligence towards security threats could be extremely damaging and result in severe financial losses for business organisations and blemish their reputation.
As such, cybersecurity is an exceedingly crucial investment for any business, small or big. But before we delve into what cybersecurity comprises of, let’s first talk about what exactly is a cyber attack.
In today’s world, most of the data is online. Businesses are connected through peer-to-peer networks and centralised networking data systems. Most of this data is backed up online and stored in cloud formats. Organisations like banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, government organisations, etc. store a lot of important information online like clients’ personal details, internal business plans, growth reports, stakeholders’ and personnel files and so on. Any of this information once leaked, or in the wrong hands, could wreak havoc, and in critical cases, even shut down huge corporations.
What’s important to bear in mind is that the internet has room for much vulnerability, and people like hackers and other anti-social elements are constantly coming up with unconventional methods and avant-garde skills to launch modern and intricate attacks. Thus, it goes without saying, that there is a dire need to constantly update your system with the latest state-of-the-art security systems and set up necessary preventive measures. This is where various security and consultancy firms come to the fore.
Nowadays, there are many IT security support companies who give you the complete package inclusive of security software, firewalls, secure backups, as well as cyber attack mitigation plans. Other than this, it also helps to have an on-site IT support team at hand, for constant vigilance, to ensure compliance to security measures and proactive responses during attacks. It would also do well to train your existing staff on the basics of cybersecurity. This is because most cyber attacks are disguised as harmless looking emails or ad links. Clicking on one such innocent email link could provide the attacker complete access to your entire data or corrupt your hard drive with a dangerous virus.
That is why one must always be vigilant while doing any kind of business online and in sharing data over the internet. Major types of attacks include:
- Phishing – Phishing means stealing important personal information by posing as legal bank sites or asking for sensitive data through official-looking emails.
- Ransomware – Some cyber attacks lock your entire system up, or seal off your records until you pay them the ransom amount they ask for.
- Trojans – Disguised as safe files, Trojans are pieces of code that enter your system undetected and can provide hackers with a backdoor entry to your framework.
- Viruses – These files replicate themselves throughout your hard disk and render important files corrupt, unusable or damaged.
- Spamware – Spamware could latch itself onto your server computers and fill up your system with unwanted ads to slow it down and reduce work efficiency drastically.
- Identity Thefts – Scammers could steal your information and identity and impersonate you to use your credit cards, transfer funds to their account, and even perform important business transactions under your name.
- Denial of Service – One of the most deadly attacks today is the denial of service attack. In this, the hackers obtain complete control of your system and can bring your entire business to a standstill by overloading your server with requests and causing your system to break down.
In each of these attacks, other than setting up distinct security layers, it is imperative to train your staff to be alert and prepared. Instruct your staff to never open or click on any random email links, and not provide sensitive information on suspicious sites. If you run an IT business, then there are many proficient service providers for IT support, and they can help in training your personnel.
A common misconception in terms of cyber attacks is that attackers only target big companies and giant conglomerates. But that is a myth. Small and medium companies are just as susceptible to attacks. According to a recent survey, 43% of companies were prone to attacks, most of which were targeted towards small and medium-sized businesses. This means every 2 out of 5 companies are at severe risk of attack. Needless to say, you aren’t at all as protected as you think you are.
Thus, it cannot be stressed enough how vital it is to have a proper cyber security system in place. Hire an IT support company to avail a comprehensive security package that takes care of all your safety needs and secures your infrastructure thoroughly.
Another point to consider is that other than the fact that attacks can cause you monetary losses, they can even tarnish your reputation and result in lost clients. If a customer has to wait for long durations to avail your services, or experiences lag or unnecessary adware, he/she may opt to go to your competitors for better services. Also, if a reputed company falls prey to a cyber attack and compromises sensitive client details, then this can ruin the company’s reputation and credibility, and the company may also have severe fines inflicted on it for negligence in protecting data.
Thus, many companies these days are opting for security insurance which not just helps you recover damage costs, but will also ensure compliance to security measures so as to be eligible for potential claims.
Cyber attack is an incredibly real and severe threat facing all corporate businesses today and taking pre-emptive precautionary measures and having a sound security system in place are the only ways to deal with it.
Contributed byhttps://www.amazingsupport.co.uk/
