Quick Intelligence Blog

Some small business owners are under the mistaken impression that cyber security is only for larger enterprises. They often think, “why would a hacker want to attack my little business, when there are larger enterprises with more money and data to steal?” The reality is that small businesses are attacked often, they just don’t generate headlines the way larger businesses do. Unlike those large enterprises, 60% of small businesses will permanently close 6 months after a data breach. To avoid having your business close, read about the 6 big cyber security risks putting small companies out of business, along with tips on how you can minimize that risk.

Cybersecurity is a must for today’s connected businesses. One of the biggest challenges, especially for smaller businesses, is the lack of financial resources to help defend against a cyber-attack. However, there are some tips that a business of any size, but especially a smaller business, can utilize to help protect themselves from a cyber-attack without blowing your budget.

For most users, passwords are all that is protecting your files, data, and apps from unauthorized access. Yet, people still tend to use passwords that are too easy to guess, and even easier for software tools to crack.

A survey by data management company, Cohesity, found that 40% of American consumers don’t want businesses to pay ransomware demands to cyber criminals. The study elicited responses from more than 1,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 and older. Moreover, 23% of those surveyed said they'd stop doing business with a company that paid a ransom. Further 48% would consider not doing business with a company that paid a ransom.

You may have heard about password managers as a way to build and store strong passwords. They are easy to use, as you only need to remember one password to access the database of all your passwords. These days, with multiple accounts used for email, social media, online shopping, and banking, you want to keep all your passwords safe and secure.

When it comes to passwords, you know that it needs to be difficult to guess, but simple enough to remember without writing it down. And of course, you should never reuse the same password.

Multifactor authentication uses a combination of two or more methods to authenticate who you are. These methods include something you know, something you have and something you are. To break it down further, the something you know could be a password or security questions, the something you have could be a token or code sent via SMS, and the something you are usually involves biometrics (fingerprint or facial recognition).

One of the biggest stories of 2021 has been the big increase in ransomware attacks. While not a new phenomenon, it seems that attacks are happening more frequently, with Barracuda researchers on reporting that they’ve identified and analyzed 121 ransomware incidents so far in 2021, a 64 percent increase in attacks. The ransom demands also keep getting bigger, with Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 reporting an 82% increase in the amount of the average ransom.

Most business owners know they need to be protected from outside threats, but did you know you’re your employees could also be a threat? So how are your employees a risk? Is there anything you can do to mitigate that risk?