A common misconception among small business owners is that hackers focus on the larger fish and ignore the smaller companies. The fact is that over 60% of small and medium sized businesses have been a target of a data breech.
Some of the reasons your company may be a target is due to things that could surprise you. Read on to learn some of the common indicators you are about to get hacked.
Think your company is too small to get hacked? Think again. Even a one-man shop needs a company to update their systems, and not doing so leaves you vulnerable to very real exploitations. Hiring a professional team like IT Pros can ensure your systems vulnerabilities are patched and proper steps are taken to make sure you are protected,
There are very real standards of compliance ranging from how you manage your passwords in house, to how old your equipment is allowed to be. If you are handling customers data such as credit cards or health information, not only could you be fined heavy fees if you are out of compliance, you could also risk that data being stolen and your business liable.
Even if your company is not specifically required to manage passwords through compliance standards, one of the common ways small companies are hacked is through password discovery. Sadly, many users have commons strings such as "1234" or even "password" as their user password. Regular password changes and requirements of combinations of unique characters, numbers, and letters can ensure that this is not an immediate threat.
This one has always baffled IT professionals. Antivirus is abundant (there are hundreds of brands), easy to purchase, and runs quietly in the background protecting your systems. There are great brands such as Eset, Bitdefender, and many more.
Many times, hackers find easy entry into a business through employee errors. It is easy for an untrained employee to click a bad link, respond to a fake email, or trigger any number of holes. It is worthwhile to send your employees to a day of training with an IT firm that teaches them how to be part of the solution.
An unpatched operating system such as Windows 7 is easy pickings for a hacker. Read more about Windows 7 ending support here. Even if you have to buy newer hardware to accommodate a supported operating system, it is well worth the cost.
Employees that are remote or travel can easily have their computers stolen or lost. Hiring an IT firm to set up strong data encryption and management can help ensure this risk is mitigated. Employees who bring their own devices also need to be sure to follow polices for ensuring the devices are covered by things like AV and encryption.
There is no sure fire way to prevent getting hacked but with these precautions in mind, your chances drop significantly.
