Small and medium-scale businesses have been the most common targets of hackers, according to numerous studies. This unfortunate position has troubled many business owners regarding their computer security.
We won't hide the realities from you; instead, we will do our best to expose most of their threats and show you how to protect your computers for staying ahead of the game.
We'll explain why it's increasingly important to know why your business website or computer system may or may not be the target of that chain of hacks and threats. As a reminder, we would like you to note that in 2015 alone, about 43% of attacked businesses fell into the small and medium scale category.
More so, the loss calculated was at an average of approximately $180,000 per company. According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, this huge fallout has made over 60% of these companies go out of business in an average of six (6) months from the time of the loss.
Why You Need Protection
As an eye-opener, we would like you to understand the impact of falling prey to these types of threats in Boise, Idaho. This article will show you the two broad areas where these hackers find their way into your business computers, records, and resources. We'll also dive into helpful ways to prevent yourself and your business from becoming victims of these hackers.
While we understand that the world seems to be picking up its pace with most people and businesses signing up to cloud storage systems, using online messages and file transmission channels, as well as the creation of business architecture; we cannot totally escape the fact that we definitely have to stay protected.
Impact of a Cyber Attack
Regardless of what city you live in, a cyber attack can happen to any business anywhere in the country. It can have devastating impacts on computer systems, internal files, external devices, and passwords. In some cases, the threats are so complex; they can lock you out of your own computers.
Unfortunately, the impact can be even more difficult for some small business owners to recover from if they don't have the proper resources and controls in place. The primary reason is due mainly to lack of technical knowledge and not having enough protection implemented.
These methods of cyber theft often leave small business owners staggering to get back on their feet. Once unauthorized individuals have accessed their computer systems, the recovery time can expand longer than a small business owner can tolerate. Otherwise, they may lose their market share and go out of business.
If you want to have success in overcoming such events, then you must be prepared for all the various threats and locations of cyberattacks. Having protection on all your computers, external devices, files, data and limiting system access to sensitive information is essential.
Financial Losses
Financial losses are the most common losses recorded after a business falls victim to cyber-attacks. Once the hackers have access to your computer security and your computer system locks, you'll need to hire a company with expert IT services to secure and prevent other users from accessing your data.
With the incidence of financial losses, a business might exhaust its resources and take a long (or longer time) to recover. In complex cases, IT professionals may need to develop or connect your computer system to an external protected source while they search for a resolution.
Imagine when you have a budget set for your financial year with some or most of it borrowed. How do you cope? When will you cover outstanding debts and loans? How will you pay your employees?
Without any iota of doubt, financial losses are the most difficult to comprehend in the event of a hack. Your resources may be depleted from other uses, such as maintaining store websites and tending to your customers and the services you still need to provide.
Loss of Trust and Reputation
When a business is exposed, the hackers typically gain system access to all the company's controls, meaning they can reveal all your personal data in Boise, including customers' files.
At this point, the person or group of individuals can cause severe damage to your computers and websites – some irreversible. If given a free hand, the hacker can take control of the business for an extended time, making it more challenging to overcome.
Some hackers deliberately go all out to defraud clients in the name of the business. It may not be official, but they can deliberately discredit the company if these are competing business instruments. Unfortunately, the original owner would have little or no control over their systems for some time.
This is the kind of event that no client wants to have a part in – working with a business whose data was compromised during a cyber attack can have quite an impact on its public image. By the time some hackers are done, there will be little or nothing to recover from the company’s public image.
This can lead to a loss of customers, staff, money, and resources. The sooner you can manage to take back the power of your computer systems, the quicker you'll be able to turn the page and implement a strategy for damage control.
Government Resources
The government is well aware of the development in cyber attacks. These types of threats have impacted major corporations down to small business owners in Boise and every other city in America throughout history. However, the advanced technology and resources these hackers have to keep the government one step behind is an ongoing development.
According to The New York Times, the United States Government is not immune; in fact, Russian hackers recently broke into federal agencies. Their email computer systems were breached at different buildings, including the Commerce and Treasury. There may have been other breaches as well that are still under investigation. This is only one example of the many threats the government faces regularly.
The most significant difference is that large companies usually have an in-house IT department to extinguish the fire before it spreads to all their computer systems, leaving the smaller companies to fend for themselves. Even the government itself has fallen victim to such threats in the past.
Loss of Data
Hackers who want to inflict damage on their target businesses objectively delete or tamper with business information, data, files, external links, or devices in an effort to make recovery attempts unsuccessful or extremely difficult. They often block users from having access to their computers.
During these types of cyber-attacks, small businesses often lack the protection necessary to immediately export in other projects any critical data from customers, financial reports, passwords, inventory, etc., that are not accessible via the hacked computer systems.
This is one of the many reasons it is vital to have an IT security company like VRI Technology to help manage your internet and computer security. As a matter of fact, research shows that the inability of small businesses to manage their data online effectively gives them away to hackers and makes them a target.
Why Smaller Businesses are Easy Victims of Cyber Attacks
Small businesses form the bulk of companies that fall victim to cyber-attacks because they are often unprepared for such events. Whether you have computers in one or more buildings, computer security threats remain the same.
Once you've been exposed to a cyberattack, all your customers' data and files are subject to privacy violation laws, and the proper authorities will need to be notified. However, there are ways that small businesses can protect their services when it comes to computer security.
On a closer look, we can see that most of them show some deficiencies listed below. We have classified these reasons in order to help you know where to direct your efforts when it comes to computer security.
Business Owner Deficiencies
Owners of small businesses are often confronted with the challenge of staffing, especially in the IT department. As a result, they try to manage many aspects of the company with little to no experience or technical know-how.
While this can minimize cost greatly, the implications of faulty knowledge of internet security can be detrimental. More so, it can lead to effectively closing the business.
Deficiencies from the business owner may include the following:
Some business owners are so busy with administrative duties that they do not have the time to assess the business's computer security. As a result, it can be exposed to cyberattacks.
Lack of technical know-how can pose limitations for business owners. IT security can be expensive for those who cannot afford to pay for a professional IT security expert. However, the mistake is usually is made when they do not consider it essential.
Some business owners cannot provide funds for training their employees in IT security and IT management. With the assumed difficulty and exaggerated nature of the process, small businesses hardly ever make an effort to train their employees.
Employee deficiencies
Whether you have a group of employees or just a few, they are primarily subject to the provisions of their company policies. Hence, with the many challenges business owners envisage, their employees will see the same or more. In some cases, it might only be passwords compromised. But, in other situations, the threats or theft can be massive.
Small businesses must communicate and have strict guidelines implemented to prevent unauthorized access to their computer systems, especially if they operate in multiple locations. If users need to connect via an external device, then that should also have the same protection.
The problem is that most small businesses don't have the knowledge or IT training to ensure that everybody is aware of how important computer security is to the company's success. Therefore, some individuals may use company computers to search or access harmful files or data.
Below are other ways certain events could impact your business.
Employee deficiencies may include the following:
Negligence plays a significant role. With the ever-expanding capabilities of the internet, many employees do not consider taming it as an essential enterprise. They also don't communicate when something impacts their device or computer system.
Some employees in small businesses underestimate the abilities of their companies. As a result, they take no interest in protecting themselves from hackers. Unfortunately, this attitude has cost some companies their money and data.
Get the Protection You Need
Hackers work diligently to find new ways to steal data and critical files. It has become increasingly important to make sure you have enough protection and computer security in place to prevent your company and customers from becoming the next victim.
Taking the initiative to protect your computers, websites, and assets will help ensure that both your customers and internal data are safe. Small business owners in Boise can trust an experienced IT management company like VRI Technology to protect their computer systems against cyberattacks, theft, and unauthorized users. Get the protection you need and deserve today!