4 of the Biggest Cyber Threats to your Business
As the years go by, the world becomes more and more digital. Wherever you look there’s technology. Phones, computers, headphones, laptops, security cameras. It’s a positive, sure, but it can also be a major risk for businesses. Cyber security threats grow every-day, and you need to keep up with what to look out for, to keep your business safe. One blip could have massive repercussions.
Cloud Data Threat
Cloud storage has always been susceptible to abuse. That's why you must be very careful when choosing a cloud storage system. The abuse doesn’t even have to come from outside the business by a hacker, it could be an old employee.
With the cloud, you could lose control over end user actions. For example, someone who works for a business and is resigning could potentially acquire a report of information, and download it to a personal cloud storage. This could be business credentials or customer reports and contacts. This could then be used if they are employed by a competitor.
There are many other threats within the cloud. Another example is the simplicity of the signing up process and the cloud in general. This makes the cloud vulnerable to hackers, malicious attacks, phishing/spam emails and much more. To avoid this, you’re recommended to get an authentication process when registering.
Information and data could be stolen from you and used against you if you aren’t careful. Securing your cloud storage is something that should be high up on your priority list.
Hackers
As we all know, hackers are around every single corner nowadays. They’re continuously finding out new ways to get past security checks or breach business accounts, and you need to keep up with them as best you can. A hacker can vary from causing minimal damage to catastrophic disasters, depending on what they do.
Simple ways to avoid getting hacked include not sharing any of your credentials, having complicated different passwords for every account, using a two-step (or even three-step) authentication service and having reliable IT support resources.
If you ever were to lose data or get hacked on a big scale, having IT support there to help out could save the day.
Formjacking
This is one you may not have heard of before. Formjacking is a process where cybercriminals inject malicious code into a site to collect user sensitive data.
This type of attack is used to steal information. Usually being credit card details, passwords, PayPal and other payment methods. They’re often collected on payment forms that show on the checkout pages of websites you buy from.
If one of your staff end up purchasing or putting in your business financial details into one of these sites, you could be facing major issues. Your credit card details, addresses, phone numbers – all of it – will be in the hands of your attacker. They could even sell your information through illegal websites.
If this happens to you, the first step should be to contact your banking service right away. You need to cancel the affected account/credit card. Always pay close attention to bank statements and look into anything that doesn’t seem right.
You could even get involved in identity theft protection, which protects your identity. It does this by alerting you with anything that happens involving your personal data. Security software on computers that protect against this are also essential. You should never not have security on your computer.
Social Engineering Threats
Social engineering attacks include multiple different things. It’s where hackers use the internet, phone calls, emails etc. to convince and manipulate the user into giving away sensitive information. It also includes then persuading people to do things for them, while also accidentally giving their data away.
As a business, and just in general, you need to look out for phishing, email scams, fake phone calls and fake text messages. To prevent such an attack, educate all of your staff on the fake ways people will contact you, and make sure they know not to click any link from an unknown/untrusted source. Make sure you always monitor your message traffic.
Having IT consultancy on hand 24/7 will help you recover if you do accidentally get involved in this. They can recover and back-up your information, educate everyone on social engineering threats, help prevent them and more.
After hearing about some of the 4 biggest threats to your business, are you secure? Remember, if you need a reliable IT support team, we're here to help.