The Top Cybersecurity Threats That Will Crush Your SMB and What You Can Do To Stop It
Your Employees
Your employees have a lot of opportunities to unknowingly create cybersecurity threats within your business. Employees can threaten your company by:- Accidentally downloading malware
- Sharing passwords
- Forwarding emails that contain confidential information
Ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that hijacks your computers until you pay a ransom. This type of malware affects a lot of companies, but it rarely gets reported because businesses pay the ransom to regain access to their computers. In May 2017, however, a ransomware program named WannaCry attacked more than 300,000 computers in over 150 countries. Suddenly, businesses all over the world started to worry about ransomed computers. You have a few ways to protect your business from ransomware. First, you should update your operating system and software often. Ransomware often takes advantage of software flaws. Once discovered, developers can fix those flaws. You only get protected when you update to the newest version. Other ways to protect your business include:- Using antivirus and antimalware software
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Using email security solutions
- Backing up your data in your environment
- Deleting suspicious files
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Understanding your security posture and remediating known issues (VAPT)
Preventing an attack and protecting your organization in the event of an attack, requires the right IT provider. Click here to consider some of the best options.
BYOD
About 60 percent of organizations have BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies that let employees use their personal devices for work-related activities. Businesses prefer BYOD because it reduces costs and makes employees more available. Unfortunately, it can also increase your cybersecurity risks. Lost devices make it easy for hackers to infiltrate your system. If one of your employees leaves a smartphone on the bus, someone who knows how to break into the device could gain access to your networks, client contact information and other sensitive data. Personal devices can also become malware targets. Since individuals may not know how to protect their smartphones, malware can jump from their phones to your networks. Training can help curb BYOD issues. You can also:- Establish boundaries so devices can only access certain data from within your building
- Create partitions so personal and professional files stay separate
- Use multi-factor authentications
Working with ATS is a breath of fresh air. ATS takes our information security concerns seriously and advises us how to avoid potential pitfalls with both hardware and software. We are beyond thrilled with ATS and only wish we had selected them a year earlier.
Joseph A. AppelbaumPresident & CEO, Potomac Companies, Inc.
ATS has been our trusted partner in recent upgrades we have made to our IT infrastructure and cyber security. Their account management, project management, and technical teams have all provided top-notch service, guiding us to make informed decisions, managing timelines for multiple projects, and most of all, listening to our needs and making recommendations based on our unique work environment. During the transitions, they have kept us operating smoothly and provided quick and helpful support through their Help Desk.
Amy GavinNutrition.org
I just wanted to take a moment to reach out and thank you for the excellent service you and your team have provided with the hosted SEIM solution. AlienVault is great, but the real value comes from your partnership. The appliance would not do nearly as much for us without your monitoring and consulting services. You have always been on top of things and there for us whenever there is an incident. I feel confident in that our network is secure and I am able to report that our board and clients with full assurance.
Chris HansfordEducationWeek.org
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