There is no such thing as you are too small to hack.
In the ever-evolving space of technology where more and more companies, big and small and are becoming more technological in their daily operations, the risks involved in becoming a more tech savvy business also increase. With the introduction of innovative technologies to business systems, appropriate security protocols should not be neglected, no matter what size the business.
According to a recent report by SiteLock, 99% of hacked websites are non-profits, blogs and small business. The rate of the attacks is excessive, 22 times a day or 8000 times per year on average. In fact, small business is often used as a proxy preparing for bigger hacks.
The more visible your website is the more likely it is to be a victim of attack, so if you have social media profiles all linking up to your website, the possibility of attack is even higher.
With data taken from October 2016 and March 2017, SiteLock emphasized just how much cyberattacks have increased this past year. In October 2016, 37% of hacked websites were infiltrated by malware designed to target the website’s visitors, while in March 2017 that number jumped to 53%, according to SiteLock’s research.
As IT Leaders, we need to focus on “IT Hygiene” best practices to ensure the security of our systems at all times. User education is a definite need in the fight against cyber-crime but, user education takes time and you need steps to take right now to decrease the chance of a successful attack on your organization.
So, what should you focus on right now?
- Access control.
- Configuration and change management.
- Log management.
- Patch management.
These are 5 steps any organization can take right away to better protect their IT systems, while they work on educating the users on their networks.
