Photo from Unsplash

Originally Posted On: https://wearescout.com/news/2022/8/11/why-cyber-security-companies-are-a-must-for-your-small-business-3-reasons-you-can-not-overlook

Running a small or medium-sized business (SMB) is often challenging. It requires hard work, dedication, time, and resources.

Most business owners focus on the business more, forgetting an essential aspect; cyber security. According to 2020’s Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) by Verizon, small businesses made up about 28% of the data breach victims in 2019.

Remember, this percentage is only for the registered number Verizon had access to. Given that the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Advocacy highlights that 99.9% of all businesses in the US are small businesses, there are likely more data breaches.

With such alarming concerns, you must prioritize cyber security for your small business.

Types of Common Cyberattacks

A Small Business Administration survey shows that about 88% of small business owners felt their business was at risk of a cyberattack. Most of these owners are unaware of where to start implementing cyber security. Others have limited financing to afford professional solutions.

A cyberattack is an intentional invasion of a company network or system while using malicious code to steal, modify, or corrupt data. As technology advances, cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated. Some common cybercrimes are:

• Social Engineering Scams

These cybercrimes involve manipulating or deceiving people to share personal or confidential details for fraudulent reasons.

Social engineering scams are such as:

• • Smishing

  • Spoof Websites

  • Caller ID Spoofing

  • Spear Phishing

  • Phishing

  • Baiting

Social engineering attacks are highly effective because they involve human interaction and a person’s emotions.

A common tactic is having the victim think they are offering assistance to someone in need. For instance, an attacker can impersonate a family member or fellow workmate to request access to sensitive data, bank account details, or documents.

You may have a way to block malware, but you have limited control over your employee sharing their password with a hacker pretending to be a coworker.

Your small business is also prone to phishing because it’s likely that most of your communication is electronic. For example, most customer communications are via:

• • social media accounts

  • email

  • instant messaging, and

  • text messages

• Malicious Software (Malware)

Malicious software is an attack where harmful software installs on a user’s computer once they open a harmful attachment or link. Malware can prevent access to files and essential network components, lock the device, and steal or delete sensitive data.

Ransomware is also an intrusive type of malware that locks data and files by encrypting them. The attackers demand some form of payment to provide the encryption key.

It’s devastating due to the challenge of recovering the data. Even if you decide to settle the ransom, the hackers don’t guarantee that you’ll regain complete control of the files or devices.

Drive-by attacks and Trojan horses are also types of malware.

• SQL Injections and Web Application Attacks

A Structured Query Language (SQL) injection is an attack where the hacker inserts malicious code into an SQL service. The code forces the service to expose details it wouldn’t display, such as confidential company data, user lists, and customer details.

• Denial-of-Service (DoS)

These attacks allow hackers to overload the resources of a system. The overloaded system becomes inaccessible to permitted users and fails to respond to service requests.

• Botnets

A botnet-driven cyberattack uses bots to inject viruses into a network, spread spam, and steal sensitive information.

Now that you understand the common cyberattacks let’s focus on how it affects your small business. At Scout, we know how vital cyber security is to your business. As an apple security provider, we support businesses like yours with Apple technology. We develop efficient technology solutions that minimize IT costs and optimize your business’s profitability.

Why Cyber Security Matters to Your Small Business

Cyber security for your small business ensures your data remains safe and secure. This includes sensitive intellectual property and customers’ and employees’ data.

It’s a vital aspect from the data security perspective, and it’s also necessary to ensure compliance. Failing to protect your data makes your business non-compliant, resulting in hefty penalties and fines.

You can also lose your key stakeholders’ trust, affecting your business’s reputation. Some companies never recover from such adverse effects. As a small business owner, there’s a lot to lose in a cyberattack. Here are the three primary reasons why you should not overlook cyber security:

Small Businesses Have a lot of Data to Protect

The Data Breach Investigations Report by Verizon also shows that 86% of the breaches had financial motives. Small businesses and startups often have relatively low monetary value, but their data wealth covers the difference.

Most attackers understand this data’s value, especially personal information, and intellectual property. They see such businesses as viable data sources where they can steal data to sell, trade, or use.

As a small business owner, cybercriminals use your stolen data in various ways, such as:

• Using personally identifiable information (PII) to conduct identity fraud

• Impersonating your business to launch phishing attacks against your users and customers

• Trading or selling your stolen financial or personal data such as credit card info on the dark web to criminal organizations and other cyber criminals

• Selling or using your intellectual property and trade secrets to your competition.

We Can Help Protect Your Business from Data Breaches

There are several ways we’ll help to secure your database. We’ll use Cisco Meraki security to ensure a robust web application and database firewall. These firewalls protect your cloud-based servers by limiting access.

We can also help with data encryption and regular backups in readiness for the worst-case scenarios.

Cybercriminals Can Target Your Business as a Way to Reach Bigger Targets

Cybercriminals often target small businesses to get a pathway to larger organizations or companies you have affiliations. Your business is not the primary target but the stepping stone to reaching the real target. As harsh as this may sound, more businesses fall prey to such attacks.

Hackers can also unleash Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) security attacks. Once a hacker gets access to your communication lines through WiFi eavesdropping, email hijacking, HHPS spoofing, DNS, or IP.

If you send information to another person(s), the hacker positions themselves in the middle, intercepting the information. They can use, steal or modify the data based on their interests.

For instance, if you send a message to your customer saying their password is Rabbit1234, the hacker in the middle will get the password. They then inform the customer that their password is Bunny1234.

The hacker can also allow the original message through but steal the details. Since the message appears to come from you, the customer will have no reason to suspect anything.

They are also more likely to share bank details, social security numbers, passwords, and other personal information if the hacker requests.

In 2019, MITM hackers obtained a $1 million wire transfer between an Israeli startup and a Chinese venture-capital firm. The hackers used elaborate email systems and domains to trick the startup and capital firm into thinking they were communicating directly.

We Can Help Protect Your Business from Cyberattacks

The first step to prevent such attacks is securing your WiFi connections using Cisco Meraki. We’ll help you configure security for your:

• WiFi networks

• Routers

• Firewalls

• Internet-connected devices

• Switches

Small Businesses Have Fewer Resources to Dedicate to Cyber Security

Small businesses often have limited financial capabilities. Since most small business owners fail to prioritize cyber security, they spend about $500 or less on less stringent measures.

The problem is that cybercriminals know this vulnerability. Hackers also know most entrepreneurs have little or no IT background and don’t involve cyber security companies.

Most cybercriminals nowadays don’t have the skills or abilities to write code for new vulnerabilities or advanced hacking skills. They use commonly available hacking tools they buy from the dark web instead.

They use these tools to pursue easy targets such as small businesses because larger enterprises have robust defenses. As a small business owner, it’s essential to recognize the need for better defenses. This doesn’t necessarily mean the best defenses are the most expensive ones.

With Cisco Meraki, you can enhance your cyber security without draining your finances. The Cisco Meraki firewall solution comes with:

• Location-based firewall rules

• Automatic intrusion detection and prevention

• Anti-virus and anti-phishing services

• Content filtering tools

• Advanced malware protection

• Advanced firewall controls

It’s Time to Protect Your Business, Brand, and Reputation

For any small business, inadequate cyber security is a risk you should not be willing to take. Cyber security is a compliance requirement determining your ability to protect customer data and intellectual property.

If cybercriminals gain access to your network or infrastructure and steal data, you’ll lose your customers’ trust and future business. Your business will become a liability and may never recover. The bitter truth is that cybercriminals will only become more brilliant. Providing robust cyber security is the only way to ensure your business’s future.

We are here to help you build and maintain robust cyber defenses for your small business. Regardless of the support you need, we guarantee world-class professional services delivered by our team of experts. Get in touch today and secure your business’s future