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What Network Security Threats Do Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) Face Today?

cyber security

Cybersecurity is one of the biggest risk factors affecting businesses in the modern age of technology. Good security is important to ensure that companies are not under attack from cybercriminals, which will cost companies in both time and money. Small businesses face a range of cyber threats daily. And, they are often more vulnerable than the larger organizations. Cybercrime can cause massive damage to a young business’s reputation. It may even result in a loss of assets and a number of other expenses in order to fix the damage caused. Below, we have compiled a list of nightmare network security threats, as well as suggestions on how to secure your business against them.

Cyber And Network Security Threats

It is important that you have a firm understanding of what Information Security is, what some of the most common threats are, and the best Information Security policies you can implement to protect your business today. Some of these threats include:

  • Phishing

Phishing involves impersonating somebody or something through email in an effort to get information. Most times, the emails are caught by spam filters or have blatant misspellings that give them away, but phishing scams have become more refined over the years. Once access is gained, ransomware quickly locks down business computers as it spreads across a network.

How To Prevent Phishing?

People still fall victim to phishing every day. Prevention settings, as well as employee education, are the best ways in which to avoid this. Cybercriminals may even study the social media accounts of employers to gain valuable insights, which can then be used to make their phishing emails appear authentic. So, it is important to keep personal information that can be used to target you or your company off the internet. Businesses must also ensure they have secure backups of their critical data as backups are an important safeguard to recover from the hack.

  • Malware And Web Attacks

Web app attacks are the most common data breach.

  • Malware includes any software that is installed on a machine to perform unwanted tasks for the benefit of a third party.
  • Ransomware is a type of malware that includes spyware, adware, bots, and Trojans.

Criminals use phishing techniques, install malware, and discover the passwords and credentials through this means of hacking.

How To Prevent Web Attacks?

To prevent malware businesses should invest in a good anti-virus technology. Operating systems, firewalls, and firmware must be kept up-to-date. If these are not installed or not updated regularly, businesses are at serious risk.

  • Internal Attacks

Internal attacks include employees using forbidden devices or services to send intellectual property to their personal accounts. It could also be someone posing as another user and sending messages aimed at getting a colleague fired. Internal attacks are one of the largest cybersecurity threats facing small businesses today. Rogue employees are capable of causing real damage.

How To Prevent Internal Attacks

To reduce the risk of internal threats, businesses must identify privileged accounts and terminate those accounts that are no longer in use or that are connected with employees who are no longer working in the business. Businesses can also use tools to track the activity of privileged accounts. If malicious activity from an account is detected, this can be dealt with before damage can occur.

  • Distributed Denial Of Service (DDoS) Attacks

These attacks are the biggest threats to businesses within the financial vertical, retail vertical, and public sector. The criminals shut down organizations or customer-facing websites due to extortion, politics, anarchy or entertainment. DDoS attacks have affected some of the biggest websites in the world including Netflix and Twitter. If a small business relies on a website or other online service to function, the outages caused by DDoS attacks will be deadly to the business.

How To Prevent DDoS Attacks

To withstand an attack, it is crucial to make your architecture as resilient as possible. Businesses can prevent these attacks by ensuring there is extra bandwidth available, creating a DDoS response plan in the event of an attack or using a DDoS mitigation service.

  • User Errors

User errors are a threat category encompassing unintentional data disclosure. Examples include accidentally emailing sensitive information to the wrong person or accidentally posting non-public information to a company’s web server.

How To Prevent User Errors

Constant education and training around IT security are necessary to help reduce human error. Training and education can help organizations secure their data by adding a little common sense and knowledge into the workplace.

  • Physical Threats

The risk of somebody physically stealing your information by taking a computer is often overlooked by companies. Important documents can be swiped or information can be gathered from the recycle bin. Or, colleagues could be spied on.

How To Avoid Physical Threats

Always lock your premises. And, invest in a high-quality door, window locks, and an alarm system. Also, shred all important documents and cut up all company credit cards that are no longer being used.

cyber security

Why Should You Protect Your Company?

SMMEs are increasingly being targeted, but many believe they are under the radar and not in the sights of cybercriminals. Malware is becoming more sophisticated. Organized crime and intelligence services are increasingly targeting smaller companies and looking for useful information on contracts. Many of these security threats are the result of corporate leaders unknowingly increasing the risk of attack. Cloud security, mobile security, data loss prevention, and risk ronanalysis are skills that are seen to be lacking in many SMME businesses today. Make sure you’re doing everything possible to put yourself and your business in a position to succeed by hiring somebody who works in IT and having them speak to your employees in a training facility environment.

Active Computers For Your Network Security Risk Prevention

Partnering with the right team ensures these common attacks will be Prevented. Our team can easily install a firewall into your existing VPN security network. It simply plugs in at the internet connection of each of your offices. This includes remote workers at home or in physical locations. Firewalls add a crucial safety element between your valuable computer systems and unwanted intrusions. Your Internet security will be improved by properly utilizing a firewall. For more information on how to protect your network security, contact us today.

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Our Why

Over 25 years ago, Active Computer Technologies was created to help small businesses compete with larger corporations. Today we provide managed services Dallas businesses rely on to be successful.

ADDRESS

558 S. Central Expressway, Richardson, TX 75080
Phone: 469-853-4962