During a data emergency at your office, all you want is peace of mind knowing that everything will be back to normal. Protecting your workstations and network storage devices, is the number one priority for any IT department. This no longer only applies to major corporations.
Small businesses are learning that cyber-security needs to be at the top of their priorities as well. Experts from around the globe are predicting an increasing rise in data breach attempts, with no end in sight. With an estimated 14 million users in the U.S. at risk, network security experts are going to have their hands full staying one step ahead of hackers.
If major corporations are spending millions and millions on cyber-security, what can smaller businesses do to protect themselves? The first step is to take this as a real threat. Far too many small businesses don’t believe that a potential cyber-attack is the most critical issue they face today. It’s this kind of mentality that allows hackers to prey on them. If your business isn’t putting the necessary resources into having elite cyber-security, then you already have a target on you.
One of the easiest ways small businesses get caught in the hacker’s trap is by you doing ordinary, day-to-day operations. Owners and employees who check their personal email, or personal social media accounts, from their work computer are putting their company’s data at extreme risk. A hacker’s goal for targeting a small business can be to snatch the personal and credit card info of customers, or a malware attack that leads to an eventual larger attack. And of course, if you’ve been following the news since June, hackers will hold data for ransom and force the business owner to pay to retrieve it.
The safety of your data can never be taken for granted. You need lightning quick recovery, automatic and continuous backup, and end-to-end security. Small businesses must think like the big boys and never skimp on having the most advanced cyber-security.
