True or false: your company is not a target for hackers because you're not a high-profile, billion-dollar corporation (yet)?
"False" is the obvious answer.
Any growing organization can come under a cyber-attack – your company works with the same kinds of valuable data as Amazon and Eddie Bauer. In fact, whether your infrastructure is on Mac or PC, some reports are showing that small businesses might appear as low-hanging fruit for hackers. This situation can arise for professional services companies, light manufacturing businesses, wholesale distributors – for any small or mid-sized business. We don't always realize the value of the information we keep or the vulnerability of our systems.
In 2015, Entrepreneur.com published an unnerving case study. Joe Ross of CSID explained an experiment they conducted with a fake company. The results showed that a cyber-security crisis only needs these three ingredients:
- 1 email with sensitive information
- 1 password re-used across multiple sites
- 1 hour
Hackers were able to exploit that info, access the fake company's web server details, and shut down the company website.
Awareness, education, monitoring, and a quick response are vital parts of a small-business security plan. It's never too early to protect your future success.
