The Biggest Security Threats Confronting Businesses
Cyber attacks and security threats are even more rampant these days, especially since so many businesses have gone digital. Businesses, no matter the size, are responsible for protecting their data including sensitive customer information from security breaches from their system. If you are a small business owner, understanding these forms of security threats will help you come up with ways to protect your business. When you understand how these security threats come about, you can create risk mitigation and the best security programs to prevent them from happening in the first place.
Here are some of the top security threats that you should protect your small business against.
Researchers demonstrate that approximately 50 percent of startups and small businesses suffer from a cyber attack annually. More than 60 percent of these undermined businesses go out of business within the following six months. These figures demonstrate that doing the bare minimum for cybersecurity measures is no longer a good idea. This means businesses must make plans to invest in technology and personnel that can fortify their system.
A lot of business owners are currently under the assumption that they could not possibly be targets such threats. Owing to this, numerous businesses have a tendency to disregard or misunderstand certain forms of threats. Targeted cyber attacks, or those attacks on business data that are conducted by bored teens or global organized crime groups, are external risks that can take out data over an extended span of time. For example, phishing attacks which are sophisticated threats that can result in a loss of business. Organizations must enact policies that would furnish their system with enhanced security against these cyber attacks.
Data breaches including calculated leaks from disgruntled employees to errors like misplaced laptops are internal risks due to the fact the threat arises from within the company. 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. While it is crucial to reinforce internal processes and personnel, skilled security services can also sometimes help reduce risks.
According to a new study, a significant chunk of actual data breaches was the product of taking advantage of weak, stolen, or default passwords. What this means is that a lot of businesses are currently still depending on single factor authentication. Companies hesitate to enable multi-factor authentication because they believe that this would negatively impact user experience. However, even the average person is increasingly realizing of the dangers of stolen identities and sensitive data. Industry authorities believe that this knowledge will lead more businesses to use multi-factor authentication processes.