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Industry Insights IT Solutions Managed IT Services

Hackers continue to actively attack SMB

Most SMB do not see themselves as a target however hackers continue to actively attack SMB since they are easy targets.

The biggest mistake small and midsize business (SMB) make is that they believe by having a firewall, antivirus, and for some, two-factor authentication, this is good enough because they feel they have nothing in value to a hacker.

Not only are small and midsize business (SMB) growing as the favored targets for ransomware hackers but they with over 60 percent shutting down within six months of a security breach according to the US National Cyber Security Alliance.

Recently, a leading IT security firm released some stats on a survey conducted. Their study showed that approximately 95 percent of IT professionals that handle small and midsize business (SMB) believe their network and cyber security policies are above average however the same respondents all admitted they could improve their IT security systems.

Small and midsize business (SMB) need to be proactive and pay attention. Have data backups, test backups, recover backups, patch everything.

Many cyber security firms have shown that most small and midsize business (SMB) have the right tools in place to protect their network however they did not have the proper execution to protect them.

Social engineering has a 50 percent success rate which should be alarming to any business. Many of the successful attacks happen because of user error while the rest comes down to non-patched systems and inadequate scanning of their systems.

Small and midsize business (SMB) must understand that email is a major vulnerability.  Most systems such as Microsoft 365 and Google for Business have built-in spam filters, however, there are other add-ons that can be used to reduce the cyber threats.

Many organizations in the small and midsize business (SMB) market need to protect if not their own, their clients’ intellectual property as this may include industry trade secrets. Unfortunately, many of these organizations do not have the time or resources to dedicate to build a strong IT security policy and practice.

Hackers continue to actively attack SMB and you need to look at the big picture and understand the threats.

Our complimentary network and security assessment can put your IT infrastructure and business to the test as well as build a solid plan on how to access cloud services.

365 iT SOLUTIONS is Toronto’s leading IT consulting boutique firm offering industry leading IT solutions including Managed IT ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Services and Cloud Services.

 

Categories
Industry Insights IT Solutions Managed IT Services

Cybercriminals Are More Interested in Small Businesses

When large organizations get hacked, it makes the news however cyber criminals are more interested in small businesses. Are you protected?

The reason is simple why cybercriminals are more interested in small businesses.

  1. There are so many more of them compared to large organizations.
  2. They have limited resources when it comes to network IT security.
  3. They are more willing to pay than large organizations as they have no disaster recovery plan or data backups that have been tested.

So how big is the target for small businesses in Canada?

According to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, here are the stats based on their KEY SMALL BUSINESS STATISTICS report.

There are 1.17 million employer businesses in Canada.  Approximately 1.14 million (97.9 percent) businesses were small businesses, 21,415 (1.8 percent) were medium-sized businesses and 2,933 (0.3 percent) were large enterprises.  Ontario and Quebec take the lead as more than half are in Ontario and Quebec (407,175 and 235,075 respectively). Western Canada has a robust and growing small business community led by British Columbia, which had 176,014 small businesses and the Atlantic provinces, Nova Scotia is home to the greatest number of small businesses, totaling 29,298.

Cybercriminals Are More Interested In Small Businesses Chart
Cybercriminals Are More Interested In Small Businesses Chart

Why do cybercriminals hit large businesses?

Cybercriminals hit large businesses as they have more sensitive and a data breach has devastating consequences to their reputations and image. Security vulnerabilities are often due to oversights or poor IT management. The largest ransomware ever paid goes to South Korean web provider Nayana which paid 397 bitcoins, or about $1 million due to WannaCry ransomware.

Why do cybercriminals hit small businesses?

Simple, look at the number of small and midsize businesses in Canada.  They are attractive targets due to their smaller pool of IT security resources and the large amount of them.  There is a larger chance of a misconfigured firewall, unpatched server, or lack of IT infrastructure and IT security.

Statistics have shown that there is a clear increase in cybercriminals stealing information from small businesses as it is much more lucrative and less risker than an attack on larger organization. According to Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report, 43 percent of all cyber-attacks make small businesses their target and average around $200,000 per year.  Over 85 percent think they have proper security measures in place to deal with these cyber-attacks attacks.

Cybercriminals are more interested in small businesses however you do not have to be an easy target.

The good news is that enterprise-class security can be affordable to small businesses. An organizations risk comes down to how they manage their data and network. It is important to use “next generation” firewalls with active security services, enterprise-class antivirus software that is configured and centrally managed, business class malware and ransomware protection as well as a tested disaster recovery solution.

This may sound expensive however it is more affordable that you think.  You can have an IT consultant set this all up for you and leave it in your hands which are not recommended as this should be constantly monitored and managed.

The second option is to reach out to a trusted managed IT services provider (a.k.a Managed Services Provider) that can handle everything for you and there should be no upfront fee for licensing and software since it will all be part of their monthly fee.

You should look at a managed IT services provider that will simplify your network, eliminate possible holes in your IT security and follow industry best practices such as train staff and deploy all tools listed above.

Our complimentary network and security assessment can put your IT infrastructure and business to the test.

365 iT SOLUTIONS is Toronto’s leading IT consulting boutique firm offering industry leading IT solutions including Managed IT ServicesIT Support ServicesIT Outsourcing ServicesTech Support Services and Cloud Services.