Avoiding Cyber ​​Attack: Tips for Small and Medium Businesses

A cyber attack is something more serious than losing a couple of documents. Data loss can have a devastating impact on a company, small or large. In this article, we will look at the main stages of a cyber attack, methods of repelling and preventing them - those that do not require spending a lot of money and time.

As a rule, small and medium-sized businesses do not pay due attention to the issue of cybersecurity. In cases where some action is taken, people often hope that they will not be affected by such attacks. According to one study that analyzed 1,000 small businesses in Britain, 51% of companies said they did not believe in the possibility of being the victim of a cyber attack. However, 60% of companies have experienced this in one form or another.

A cyber attack is something more serious than losing a couple of documents. Data loss can have a devastating impact on a company, small or large. In this article, we will look at the main stages of a cyber attack, methods of repelling and preventing them - those that do not require spending a lot of money and time.

The economy grows and develops, but more and more companies do not reliably protect their data. Many firms do not defend themselves because they consider themselves too small to attack; others simply do not want to spend time and money defending against what they do not consider likely. However, the old saying remains true: it is easier to prevent than to fix it.

What is a cyber attack?

A cyber attack is an attempt by hackers to damage or destroy a computer network or system. Typically, this includes data breaches, whereby outsiders gain full access to your sensitive information. A cyber attack can take the form of identity theft, virus or malware infection, fraud, or extortion.

More often than not, cyber-attacks take the form of ransomware attacks. Such attacks encrypt your data, promising to decrypt it for a small price. The ransomware viruses WannaCry and Petya are classic examples of such attacks.

Another form of attack is the hidden installation of a sniffer, an application that records incoming and outgoing traffic. Sounds harmless at first glance, but such attacks brought big firms to their knees.

How are cyber attacks carried out?

Hackers can gain access to your network in many different ways. Most attacks these days are carried out stealthily, almost invisibly.

Cyber ​​attacks are often carried out through phishing emails, mobile attacks, or traffic hacking. The recent emergence of the Petya ransomware virus was based on a vulnerability in an update to the accounting system that companies cooperating with the Ukrainian government were required to use. There are also more primitive methods of attack, for example, a DDoS attack, in which the system receives colossally large volumes of traffic and, if it cannot withstand the load, crashes. In this case, users cannot enter the site or use the corresponding service or service. Twitter, Spotify, and Reddit became victims of DDoS attacks in due time (October 2016). But in the case of small businesses that do not have a huge user base, phishing emails are the most commonly used.

These emails are deliberately crafted to look very similar to regular secure emails, making them difficult to spot. According to Tim Bandos, head of cybersecurity at Digital Guardian, the best way to prevent cyber attacks that encrypt and damage your data is to teach employees how to distinguish phishing emails from safe ones... Phishing emails try to present themselves as emails requiring an urgent response, and quite often they contain a file. Some hackers spend months analyzing companies and collecting information, trying to make a phishing email as similar as possible to a regular email from the company's internal correspondence. It is really difficult to find such letters, but with proper preparation, this task becomes much easier.

What are the consequences of such attacks?

Many companies do not believe that they can become victims of cyberattacks, but it is still worth taking precautions. It is estimated that by 2021 the damage from cybercrimes will be $ 6 trillion per year. Such a threat cannot be ignored.

As stated in a Digital Guardian article that interviewed 44 computer security experts, “Preventing a ransomware attack will help your business save tens of thousands of dollars (or more) in losses from operational disruption, data loss, and more.” ... Data loss can be a terrible blow to companies, both financially and reputationally. Even if the ransomware asks for only $ 300, companies cannot afford to lose their reputation, which is exactly what happens after a cyber attack. The reputation of 89% of the companies studied in the previously mentioned survey was more than severely damaged by the cyber attack. This is understandable because your customers expect that you will securely store their data. If you get hacked, customers will think ten times before entrusting you with even a bit of their data.

How can attacks be prevented?

As mentioned earlier, it is enough to train your employees. Other precautions won't hurt, though.

Install Antivirus Software

As a rule, cyberattacks target companies, but more often than not, all problems occur due to ordinary computer viruses. A virus is unlikely to encrypt your data, but it can steal it and slow down your computer's speed. The best antiviruses can protect you from 99% of viruses. They will also protect you from spyware that tracks your company's activities and copies your data, and spam that no one wants to manually tinker with. Find a reliable antivirus like total security that regularly updates its databases, and this will be the first step on the road to security.

Set Up a Firewall

Antivirus detects and removes viruses that have sneaked into your computer, while a firewall prevents them from getting into your computer in principle. Essentially, a firewall is a filter between your computer and the Internet. While you are on the network, you are constantly receiving and sending data packets. The firewall filters these packets, acting as a shield against anything dangerous. But if the virus can bypass the firewall, then it can only be removed with an anti-virus program.

Use a VPN

If you own a small or medium business, chances are that at least one of your employees works remotely. Smartphones and tablets help you work outside the office, in fact! But if your employees are not using a highly secure network, then it is likely that your company could fall prey to hackers. This is especially true in cases where you use public WiFi hotspots, passing through which hackers can easily intercept. A VPN service can be used anywhere, on any device (almost anything), and it will encrypt your data. As a result, it will become much more difficult to intercept them.

VPN (Virtual Private Networks) technology was created for large companies and governments so that their employees can work remotely and be able to connect to the company's local network without compromising sensitive data. A VPN service creates a tunnel between an employee's workplace and a company server, acting as a defense against hackers and others who try to steal data. VPNs also encrypt data, so even if they are stolen, they are unlikely to be decrypted.

There are free VPNs out there, but we'd still recommend using the paid versions. Ads, slow speed, data tracking - free VPNs always have a pitfall. But if you purchase the paid version, you can be sure: you will get the most reliable and fastest connection, and it is highly encrypted, and no one will track your data. Again, most VPNs run promotions and offer their services at very affordable prices.