Many businesses’ reliance on technology to operate efficiently and sometimes, even at all, has increased over the last few years, which makes staying on top of security a crucial step to protect your business. Cybersecurity risks can profoundly impact on businesses, ranging from financial losses to inability to operate. Cybersecurity is an ongoing process, and staying informed about the latest threats and best practices is essential for safeguarding your business. It’s best not to wait until a cyberattack occurs but rather be proactive now to secure your business and its valuable assets.
In this blog, we will explore some of the common cybersecurity risks that businesses face and discuss some steps to protect your business from these threats.
Data Breaches:
Data breaches are one of the most common risks for businesses. Hackers may target company or customer information to sell or use for malicious purposes. Targeted information may include sensitive or confidential business information or strategy, customer or employee data, account numbers or access, theft of intellectual property or trade secrets, or credit card or bank information, just to name a few. The consequences of a data breach can include legal and financial penalties, loss of customer trust, or even a damaged reputation.
Some Ideas to Protect Your Business:
- Invest in robust data encryption and secure storage practices. This may include hiring a professional IT company that will manage your company’s data management system to help ensure best practices.
- Educate employees on cybersecurity best practices and conduct regular security training.
Phishing Attacks:
A phishing attack involves deceptive emails or messages that aim to trick individuals into revealing information or clicking on malicious links. These emails can look very convincing and authentic. Senders may impersonate trusted entities to gain access to your business’s data.
Some Ideas to Protect Your Business:
- A good spam filter is a simple but effective way to manage potentially dangerous emails from ending up in employee inboxes.
- Train employees to recognize phishing attempts and report them. It’s always a good idea to check the email address for authentication.
- Use multi-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security to accounts.
Ransomware:
One of the more dangerous attacks is a ransomware attack. This type of attack involves malware that encrypts a company’s data, rendering it inaccessible until a ransom is paid. Even if the ransom is paid, there is no guarantee that the data will be restored, and there are also many documented instances of companies becoming repeated targets for cyber criminals after paying a ransom once.
Some Ideas to Protect Your Business:
- Regularly back up your data to secure offline locations.
- Install reliable antivirus and anti-ransomware software. A professional IT company can assist in setting this up and maintaining it.
Insider or Employee Threats:
Human behavior is a bigger risk to data security than even the most sophisticated hacker. Employees, contractors or individuals with company access can potentially expose data, whether maliciously or accidentally.
Some Ideas to Protect Your Business:
- Hire an IT security firm to evaluate all employee workstations, emails, networks, tablets, laptops, passwords, and phones to determine potential weak links in cyber security. Assess processes in place to protect data and how these are reflected in your employee and subcontractor relations, contracts, and operations.
- Establish protocols and best practices for company-wide compliance. Promote a culture of security awareness among employees, including training for these practices.
- Implement strict access control and user privilege policies.
These are just some of the risks that are an ever-present threat to businesses, and there are steps you must take to protect your organization. Some basic principles to remember are to be proactive, regularly update your security measures, and educate your employees.
The attorneys at MLMW are experienced in working with clients on issues related to cybersecurity, including litigation, employment contracts, transactions, and mergers and acquisitions. Please contact us if you would like to speak more about your company’s cyber security issues.