Small to Medium sized businesses are at a larger risk of cyber attack than what they perceive. According to the Congressional Small Business Committee, 71% of cyber attacks happen in businesses with less than 100 employees. The reason smaller businesses are more at risk is because they have less secure networks, making it easier to breach. Hackers are also using automated attacks and can breach thousands of small businesses to get the results they want.
Common practices to improve their risk posture are:
1. Use a Firewall
This is considered the first line of defense by providing a barrier between sensitive information and hackers. It has also become common for companies to start installing an internal firewall for extra protection. Employees working remotely should have a firewall on their home network as well.
2. Train all Employees
It is common for employees to have several duties in a small business, which means that it is even more important that they are trained on network security policies. It is also important to perform regular refresher courses as well as notifications of new threats to continue educating employees. It is also recommended that the employees sign a document after they have completed the training stating that they understand the policies and the repercussions of not following the policies.
3. Install Anti-malware software
A recent report uncovered that 30% of employees opened phishing emails, which is a 7% increase from 2015. This shows that the cyber criminals are becoming more creative in how they are able to deceive employees. Because of this it makes it more important that anti-malware is installed on all devices and the network. Recent data also shows that phishing attacks usually target specific employee roles such as executives, human resources, salespeople, administrative assistants, and any employee.
Other protections small to medium sized businesses can use are documenting cybersecurity policies, have a plan in place for mobile devices, enforce safe password practices, back up all data, and multifactor identification. It is important to keep in mind that the cybersecurity landscape is constantly changing as cybercriminals find new ways to attack networks. This means that it is important to stay up to date with the latest trends.
Segal, C. (2018). 8 Cyber Security Best Practices For Your Small To Medium-Size Business (SMB) - Cox BLUE. [online] Coxblue.com. Available at: https://www.coxblue.com/8-cyber-security-best-practices-for-your-small-to-medium-size-business-smb/ [Accessed 4 Nov. 2018].