As a business owner, you are inexplicably responsible for each and every one of your customer’s privacy. Your customers give you their information with the explicit, unspoken understanding that they can trust you to safeguard it. If their data is compromised, the blame lies with you. On top of that, your company also has its own private, confidential information that must be secured as well.
With all that data gathered in one place, is it any wonder that cybersecurity is such a big deal right now?
Hackers these days no longer discriminate against potential targets. Regardless of size, nature, or industry, they can (and will) attempt to hack into any business that catches their interest. In fact, many hackers aren’t afraid to use sophisticated techniques just to cast their net as wide as possible. Although the only data breaches that make it to the headlines are the ones done against major corporations, small- and medium-sized businesses are definitely not immune.
Unfortunately, most small businesses don’t have the security measures in place for their private data. They believe themselves safe when, really, nothing could be further from the truth.
What You Need to Protect
Cybercriminals are always on the lookout for details regarding your customers, employees, and business. They can come up with a wide range of methods to exploit obvious weaknesses in your company’s cybersecurity. For instance, they can spam you with dozens of emails containing a virus, attack your website and third-party systems, infect your company computers with malware, gain unauthorized access to your hardware, and so on.
Information is quite valuable in this data-driven society, so do not be complacent with the details you have on file.
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How You Can Detect a Cyberattack
It’s pretty hard to tell right away that hackers have infiltrated your system or network—especially if it’s your first time as the victim of such an attack. Cybercriminals have certain strategies and technologies they can use to avoid detection. This allows them to stay in your system long enough to steal as much information as they can.
If dealing with an experienced hacker, it can take months—or even longer—to detect a cybersecurity breach. That’s why you need to constantly monitor your systems for common indicators of a breach. Some of these include:
- errors in system logs
- new signed-in or connected devices on your network
- suspiciously reduced operating speeds
- unusual log-in times (i.e. after hours)
- extremely high traffic in workstations
- new/unknown users with admin privileges
- unusual entries in the security log.
Steps to Take When You are Under Attack
The best ways to avoid trouble (and expenses) related to a data breach that includes loss of information are prevention and early detection. Reinforcing your network against cybercriminal activity allows you to improve the security of your data and become more resilient against cyber attacks.
All cybersecurity plans should indicate a process of what you need to do once you’re under a cyber attack. These plans should be extremely detailed and tailored specifically to your business and industry. For instance, a cybersecurity plan for a FinTech company may be more complicated and extensive than one that is designed for a typical e-commerce operation.
There is no denying that cybersecurity threats pose a very real risk to businesses of any size and any industry. It’s important to recognize these threats as early as possible before they turn into major problems that could potentially cost you your customer’s trust—and your business, a lot of money.
We can’t determine how you are doing with your cybersecurity until we assess your status. If you need an evaluation from skilled professionals, 1+1 Tech is here to help. Aside from great resources at our disposal, our team includes experts who can lend a hand when it comes to detecting and combating cybersecurity threats.
