How to Safeguard Your Small Business From Cyber Threats
Our connected society has a lot to offer in terms of convenience, efficiency, and the potential for collaboration, but our technological innovation also brings with it some dangers, chief among them security concerns. Whether it is spam (97% of the more than 60 billion emails sen each day are spam), virus infection, or an actual security breach, ensuring the safety of your business is paramount and often necessitates managed IT support services and IT consulting.
Given the number of large data and security breaches over the past few years and the fact that in the last six years alone, the U.S federal government has seen an increase in cyber security breaches of over 680%, corporate digital security is increasingly valuable. Breaches are costly. A hefty $50,000 fine can be leveraged against a company found guilty of a HIPAA compliance breach involving fewer than 500 records even. In fact, businesses are increasingly asked to ensure that they protect, track and control access to sensitive information through compliance mandates such as PCI, HIPAA and FISMA.
Small businesses are especially at risk as they often don’t use business IT consulting. Almost 90% of small businesses had registered some form of malicious security breach in 2012 alone, according to a recent survey. Most — as much as 80% — of such breaches were the result of poor admin passwords. Even more significantly, breaches often result from internal threats; As much as 75% to 80% of all such attacks come from within, rather than from an external source. Almost 60% of small businesses reported breaches that were a direct result of staff activity.
In fact close to 60% of employees that are fired or who quit take proprietary company information and data with them when they leave. Ethical hacking services can offer you security auditing and preparation to help you test and evaluate your IT infrastructure. Part of that process also involves educating staff and clients. Hiring external marketing firms can also play a role in ensuring that clients feel that their data is safe and secure. Increasingly, marketing firms are being asked to communicate with customers and B2B clients about data safety and security. Managed IT services can make all the difference and give you and your clients peace of mind.
