All companies, not only small and medium, are likely to suffer a cyber attack for various reasons: ideological, financial or even the simple challenge of accessing a system that is already very well protected. Perhaps, in the latter case, small businesses do not apply, after all, among them, they are most of them who do not think of cyber security, and if they think, they believe it will never happen to them.
Next, you will see many reasons to worry about the dangers of the internet, especially if the environment is business, and even worse, if it is a small or medium company.
What is a cyber attack?
A cyber attack is a (successful or not) attempt by a hacker to damage, kidnap, steal, or destroy the network or a computer system connected to the internet. Mostly, the criminal's main objective is the violation of data, sensitive or confidential, of companies or people.
The channels for such attack are diverse, as are the possibilities and can assume the form of theft of identity, viruses, malware, fraud or extortion.
Companies are the main targets because they have more sensitive data and have mostly more funds available for reward payment for the return or unlocking of kidnapped data, for example.
But make no mistake, a cyber attack can be more than just the loss of some documents, as losing all company data can have a devastating impact on a company, regardless of its size.
Many companies say they do not use data protection systems because they believe they are too small to be attacked. However, the cost to avoid an attack is much lower and demands little time and attention of the manager or responsible professional.
In the next lines, you will see how a cyber attack happens.
How does a cyber attack happen?
Several forms and motives characterize a cyber attack, but most of them are difficult to detect.
The vast majority of attacks have their main gateway, clicks and access to improper sites of lay users within companies.
In another article here on the blog, I listed the 8 main cyber attacks with various information about them. Download is also available from PDF.
Among the most common are:
- Ransomware - Company data sequestration and “rescue” request in cryptocurrency
- Trojan Horse-Malicious executable coming in a fake email
- Phishing - confidential data theft through a fake page
- MALVERTISING - Attack of false and malicious sales advertisements
If you notice well, in almost all attacks, the gateway depends on a click or action of an internet user, being the lack of knowledge the key point for the success of the attack.
What to observe in the company's network to prevent?
As we have seen above, most attacks come from employees and internet users without knowledge about the numerous possibilities, clicking on harmful links and downloading malicious files. However, in addition to training employees and informing them of the importance of the subject, it is important to take extra precautions, as we will see below.
Fragile Mapping
Identifying in your company's network from which threats may come from perhaps the first point to be observed, taking into account the existence of a possible security breach to the company's data. In addition, mapping weaknesses can greatly facilitate your process of implementing an information security system, gathering valuable data on the company's network panorama.
To identify possible problems in the internet network, there is security and vulnerability test of the internet network.
Some of them are based on access to access to websites considered harmful, while others do test opening tests and virus infection.
Even in the article “ 3 tests to identify vulnerabilities in your network ,” you find more detailed information on the topic.
Software and Systems
Equipment and systems undergo continuous technological evolution and need to be replaced and updated periodically. In addition, you should take into account quality and performance aspects compatible with the use of the company, so that they work in a way that perfectly meets the needs, without overloads, failures or defects for inappropriate use.
Note annually or in any specific report if the company's equipment is up to date and working without overloads. Outdated equipment is easy targets for hackers.
In addition, there is the factor "originality". Many companies today choose to use pirate tools to reduce costs. However, this option can lead to several problems, especially data security, after all, they are modified versions of the original, where maintenance and originality verification features were removed mainly.
For operating systems the logic is the same. Updated, it contains safety improvements in addition to new features, as new forms of invasion and safety breaches are emerging.
Therefore, keeping the company's equipment and systems up to date are one of the main points for efficient data security in companies as they are used massively every day.
Backups
Is there a reliable and periodic backup system in your company? If the answer was no, it is an extremely important point that you pay attention!
Backup systems make it possible to recover important data in case of any accident.
In some types of attack, such as ransomware, which kidnaps data to payment of a ransom, the main way to solve the problem is restoring the company's data from a backup copy.
The backup strategy should be implemented so that there is a security copy kept in a uncovered location from the original data site. If the safety copy is done on an additional disk constantly connected to the server or network where the original data are, in the specific case of ransomware, it is possible that the backup files are also blocked at the time of attack, making backup useless. It is important to have a security copy in a separate place from the original location where the data is.
Backup is critical in the security of company information.
firewall
Firewall a security device that controls network data flow. With it it is possible to filter traffic, setting what should pass and what should be discarded.
It is considered one of the basic data security items for companies. It is extremely important for you to check if at least, you have an active firewall system on the company's network.
When configured correctly on a computer network, Firewall acts as an additional layer of external attack protection and increases the safety of the company's network, equipment, systems and information. Normally firewall is one of the main defenses in the perimeter of a private network, being an essential component in protecting unwanted traffic and invasion attempts.
Remote accesses
With the large number of home office professionals, it is quite common for companies to support these employees remotely. However, without the company's protection systems working in favor of the employee, data and devices in this action will be at risk if they do not use secure remote support tools.
Access to company data made remotely carries several dangers with them. When not encrypted it can be tracked by hackers and open spaces for various attacks.
Also, if employees make remote access to their personal computer, it may not have the same safety and protective tools that the company's equipment has.
Therefore, if at some point one of the company's employees makes remote access to the company's internal data, it is extremely important to use a solution to protect the Dadaos traffic.
Among all solutions, the most commonly used is VPN Business.
The acronym " VPN " means virtual private network, translating private virtual network, is a network technology that uses the internet to connect a group of computer and maintain the data security that traffic between them.
The main advantage for a company that uses VPN is certainly increasing information security when there is a need to traffic confidential data between branches or to employees who work remotely and need to access data in the local network.
In the following topic, we will see some solutions to the main data security problems in small businesses.
How to avoid cyber attacks?
It's never too late to protect yourself from cyber attacks, but better yet, not wait until you are attacked.
Does weakness mapping, software and systems update, firewall rules, backup systems and use of a business VPN, are enough ways to keep company data safe? Maybe not!
Seeing the number of companies and professionals we talk about daily, we realize that the great “Achilles heel” in companies is the lack of knowledge and training of employees.
It is no use basic security systems, if employees themselves open their doors and receive hackers as "visits" in their work environment.
But for the relief of many, there are ways to prevent employees without knowledge, unsuspecting or distracted, leave the data so important from the company, at the table for any hacker to take possession, as we will see below.
Use a data security policy
Establishing guidelines for members of the organization, regarding the rules of using information technology resources, perhaps one of the most “cheaper” ways to improve data security.
These rules, listed in a document, signed and foreseen by the user before making any use of the company's equipment, serve to prevent employees without knowledge, unprepared, negligent and in some cases even misunderstanding, put the company's data at risk, at the mercy of digital criminals.
Developing an information security policy in the company may decrease possible spending and investments with corrective measures from cyber attacks.
Do internet access control
Controlling internet access is a common practice in companies and increasingly important and necessary. Unlike the information security policy, doing access control does not require the employee's common sense and will so that access to harmful websites and outside the scope of work are not accessed.
In most incidents or safety failures, the gateway to attacks or virus installation are users who cannot identify possible risks and end up clicking false email links, social networking ads and malicious websites.
Therefore, using an internet access control in the company can close the vast majority of entry doors for cyber attacks.
Among those available on the market are some solutions for control of internet access such as DNS Filter , Lumiun , Nextdns and Cisco Umbrella .
Among those mentioned, only Lumiun has fully supported Portuguese from Brazil and payment in national currency, which is a great differential, taking into account the growing value of the dollar.
Conclusion
Concern about data security and your presence here in this article already makes you different from most of those responsible for Small Business Safety Systems.
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I hope I have contributed to improving processes and identifying breaches in internet security in your company.
To the next!
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