Last Updated on 1 year by Komolafe Bamidele
Online scams and cyberterrorism aren’t new.For as long as there has been an active user base of the Internet, criminals’ activities are increasing on a daily basis.
They have been trying to exploit and steal whatever they can lay their hands on.
even when people are scrolling Facebook or reading news about the latest Firefly launch.
The Internet can be a magical place with many opportunities, but it can also cause a serious amount of trouble if cybersecurity is compromised.
With the 2020 Covid Pandemic, many small and medium businesses were forced to create websites and adapt to an online existence to stay relevant and in touch with their clients.
This move towards a cyber existence has had a lot of benefits for smaller businesses as it exposed them to a much larger user base than ever before.
However, when it is good, there is always a bad side of it. Many smaller businesses (as well as larger corporations) fell victim to serious cyberattacks and information breaches.
Cybercrime rose by 60% in 2020-2021. Now, more than ever, cybersecurity education is of paramount importance.
For instance, recently GoDaddy Hacked, 1.2M Customers at Risk of Phishing Attack
The hack that exposed the details of 1.2 million GoDaddy customers has spread to six more web hosts.
Source; PCMAG
Best 4 Ways Small Business Can Protect Themselves From Cyber Attacks?
Here are the top four ways that larger corporations are implementing cybersecurity.
Setup Employee Cybersecurity Education and Training
It might sound redundant, but every large change requires a smaller change on the inside.
A recent study showed that cybersecurity data breaches could cost a large business up to 20% of its entire annual revenue per annum.
However, this same cybersecurity study showed that most of the information breaches are unintentional and happen due to a lack of awareness or a mistake.
Phishing is the number one cybersecurity threat that targets business owners on every level.
Phishing is the act of embedding malicious links into an email for extracting information.
These phishing emails usually look authentic and aim at tricking employees into providing log-in credentials or personal information.
Google, the largest search engine on the planet, reported that it had uncovered 18 million phishing Gmail messages per day related to COVID-19 in 2020 alone.
Source Google Cloud
Also Court documents allege Abbas’s crimes cost victims almost $24m in total. But some believe the actual total could be much higher.
SMBs worldwide have hired cybersecurity professionals to host seminars and one-on-one cybersecurity training to mitigate this information breach.
These cybersecurity programs show employees how to distinguish between real and fake emails and spot potential phishing threats.
It might seem that a cyber security salary might be a cost that many small businesses cannot afford.
Still, due to the updated top cybersecurity threats in 2021, many cybersecurity companies have lowered their prices to stay competitive.
A smaller company could hire a cybersecurity firm to educate its employees for as low as a couple thousand.
Password Management for Cybersecurity For SMBs
Besides phishing cybersecurity scams and email malware, weak passwords are one of the main reasons for information breaches.
It may come as a surprise, but a cybersecurity study showed that the most commonly used password is, in fact, the word ‘password.’
Cybersecurity deals with educating employees and proper password selection.
SMB’s have already implemented several password protocols that protect their employee accounts.
Some of these protocols include temporary passwords, dynamic passwords, and facial recognition software.
Even so, the percentage of data slippage because of password mismanagement remains quite high.
Several cybersecurity tools like NordPass help SMBs manage employee passwords.
UTM, or unified threat management, offers many valuable cybersecurity functions that boost protection.
Employers or cybersecurity analysts can use a modern antivirus program like NordVPN on corporate networks and provide anti-spam, anti-phishing, and anti-breach protocols for every computer connected to this network.
This cybersecurity approach is referred to as a combined one since it protects from both malware and password mismanagement.
SMBs Should Encryption Emails and VPN
Sometimes educating employees on cybersecurity protocols and password management is not enough – you need to protect the flow of information at its source.
Many SMBs have begun using cybersecurity programs that heavily encrypt incoming and outgoing emails within the company.
Email encryption for cybersecurity does not guarantee that phishing and malware will not make way inside the system, but it makes it increasingly difficult for hackers to breach the front gates.
Encrypted emails and digital files use public key infrastructure (PKI), which uses private and public keys to hide sensitive information.
The difference between encrypted and unencrypted emails is like day and night.
Along with email encryption, cybersecurity teams offer the use of a Virtual Private Network.
A VPN allows you to establish a protected network connection within public networks, thus protecting your system from outside breaches and boosting cybersecurity.
A VPN can hide your IP identity and encrypt internet traffic, thus making it more difficult for outside sources to observe the flow of information.
SMBs Must Establish a Contingency Plan
No matter how protected a connection is, there is always the chance of a breach.
Recent cybersecurity news has shown that even the strongest of networks have a vulnerable cybersecurity spot.
That’s why SMBs should have a plan B of sorts; a plan B refers to a situation in which information does leak out to an outside source such as a hacker.
The company needs to know how to handle this breach and who to notify.
It might seem like too much work but keep in mind that some information breaches might be more costly than others.
If you are running an ice cream store, you wouldn’t care if someone stole your receipt for Mint Chocolate Chip.
But if you are running a stock exchange or a crypto trading platform, a cybersecurity breach could cost you hundreds of millions and the confidence in your business.
There are many ways to protect yourself online.
Cyber security jobs vary based on the protection needed and data sensitivity. As with anything, proactivity is key.
Don’t wait for the information breach to occur; act before it happens to limit the damage it can do. Thanks for reading through to this end. Are you crypto trader you need to read this