IT-Services-Utah-Cybersecurity-MythsIs your business using IT Security Best Practices to avoid a Data Breach during the remote working lockdown?

I know, I know...information security is not a top priority during the coronavirus shutdown. But information security awareness and information management are more important than ever right now. Hackers are using every tactic in their book to attack small businesses. Phishing emails, scam websites, and even brute force attacks have increased drastically over the past few weeks.

Even with all the warnings, many business owners in the Salt Lake City area think they are safe. If you find yourself thinking one of the below statements then you must keep reading to avoid being a target, or worse, losing everything you built.

IT Services Utah - Cybersecurity Myths:

  • I'm a small business, hackers won't target me.

In 2019, more than 70% of small businesses were compromised via data breaches, phishing scams, ransomeware, or direct hacks. Hackers create automated viruses and malware that do the "heavy lifting" for them. So instead of targeting one large company, hackers will target hundreds of small companies. Because small companies often think they are "too small" to target, they have very lax cyber security measures, which makes them the ideal target.

  •  I can recover from a breach and no one will know it happened.

The most recent iterations of ransomeware are becoming more malicious and are nearly impossible to "keep quite". Just because your company is not involved in any of the high-profile data breaches doesn't mean you are safe from scrutiny.

In the past, companies that experienced a data breach could try to fly under the radar by not reporting the breach to the appropriate authorities, meaning that no one outside of the company or the hacker would know what happened. To combat ransomeware, many companies began implementing data backup policies that would allow the company to simply restore data from a backup rather than pay a ransome to get their data back.

Today, new ransomeware attacks are adding an additional level of malice. If a company refuses to pay the ransome, the hacker will begin releasing the hacked data —including private customer information such as protected health information. In some cases, even if the company does pay the ransome, the hacker will still release the data.

This now opens up the business to customer lawsuits, federal and local agency fines, and most small businesses cannot recover, ultimately closing their doors forever. Anonymity is no longer an option during a data breach.

  •  My staff is working from home so my office network is secure.

Just because your staff is not in the office does not mean that your avoiding any security risks. In fact, hackers are counting on gaining access to your information technology systems by accessing your network through your remote workers computers.

Many small companies do not have the resources to purchase new laptops for their employees to use while working remotely. Instead, staff members are being sent home to work from their own personal computers. These same personal computers are loaded with programs and apps that are vulnerable to compromise, and may already be compromised. Once these personal computers access your company network your entire network is compromised.

Keeping your customers' sensitive data secure needs to be a top priority and part of your technology threat response policy.  Nothing could be worse than working 24/7 to survive the shutdown, only to be put out of business from a data breach.

You don't need in-house IT security operations:

The best option for avoiding the above issues is a on-premise and cloud security solution that not only keeps private financial and customer information secure, but also uses active managed detection to monitor your company network for any breach. An effective cybersecurity solution will ensure that your company information is safe from hackers.

If you need any assistance with moving your business to a remote-work environment or to the cloud, give us a call. We are security experts and are more than happy to offer free or low cost solutions to assist our fellow business owners during this shutdown.

Call Greg at 801-572-4000 opt 1 or check out our Managed IT Services page for more information.

Not ready to call? Consider signing up for the weekly Tech Tips and receive your Security Checklist of the top 31 Cybersecurity Tips that you can implement during the shutdown to help keep your company safe from hackers. Simply sign up HERE and the information will be delivered to you immediately.