Every company, small and large, is at risk of being exploited online, but small businesses are especially vulnerable to cyber-attacks. With attackers automating their attacks, they can easily target hundreds or thousands of small businesses at once. Usually, businesses have less stringent technological defenses, less awareness of threats, as well as less time and resources to put into cybersecurity, increasing their vulnerability to attacks. The following are some of the threats that small businesses face:
Phishing Attacks
Phishing accounts for the majority of all breaches that companies face. Phishing attacks take place when an attacker pretends to be a trusted contact and persuades a user to click a malicious link, offer them access to sensitive information, or download a malicious file. To fight phishing attacks, companies must have a strong email security gateway because this keeps phishing emails from reaching the inboxes of employees. Also, they can invest in post-delivery protection as this lets users report phishing emails and allow admins to delete them from inboxes.
Malware Attacks
Malware covers a variety of cyber threats like trojans and viruses. They are mainly damaging for small businesses as they can cripple devices, requiring expensive repairs or replacements to fix. Also, they can provide an attacker with a back door to access data. To prevent these attacks, businesses need to have strong technological defenses in place including Endpoint Protection solutions. These solutions protect devices from malware downloads and give admins a central control panel for managing devices and keeping user security up-to-date.
Ransomware Attacks
This form of cyberattack involves encrypting company data to prevent unauthorized use or access and then forcing the company to pay a ransom to unlock the data. Attackers know that small businesses are likely to pay a ransom because their data is usually not backed up. Ransomware attacks can be prevented by having an effective cloud back-up solution in place. This way, companies can quickly recover their data without paying any ransom or losing productivity when a ransomware attack happens.
Insider Threats
These threats are caused by the actions of employees, previous employees, and business contractors or associates. These individuals can access vital company data and cause harmful effects. Insider threats are common in small businesses because more employees have access to multiple accounts that hold more data. Small businesses can block insider threats by having a strong culture of security awareness within their company. This can help stop insider threats caused by ignorance and help workers spot attacks early on.
