Even if you are not a small business owner yourself, you probably already know the cost of poor cybersecurity, either from your own research or from bitter personal experience. Becoming the unwitting victim of an online attack will finish over half of the small businesses, either through lost data or losing trust from customers and partners alike.
It is a sad fact that many small business owners don’t take cybersecurity seriously, either thinking cybercrime only happens in the movies and won’t happen to them. However, as 43% of all cyberattacks are aimed at small businesses, and only 14% are anything close to equipped to deter attacks, they are sadly mistaken.
While it is true that not all cyberattacks are as spectacular as this one that affected the FBI, but even a simple attack can cost a small business an average of $200,000 – and very few have pockets quite that deep. With so much at stake, you will undoubtedly find it baffling that so many small business owners see their cybersecurity as an unnecessary expense.
If that same small business has its staff working remotely, then the risk is even greater for two reasons. Firstly, there is the new factor that much more data is being sent backward and forward each day. Secondly, there is the additional threat that cybercriminals have increased their attacks because they are aware of the openings remote working provides for them.
As those wishing to mount an online attack are taking the situation more seriously than those that could be severely affected by it, here are a few things small business owners can do to even up the odds.
Security awareness training
Making staff, especially those working remotely, be more aware of the threats to the business they work for (and, by extension, their livelihood) can be an excellent first step. Whether it be malware, ransomware, or something else, the vast majority of successful online attacks result from some kind of human error.
An example of one of the best security awareness training programs can be found when you click here. Staff who benefit from this type of training will be more equipped to spot threats and what to do when they detect them.
Other measures
As well as training, employees who are working remotely need to take other steps. One of the reasons cybercriminals are increasing their activity and the sophistication of the attacks is that they know how somebody working from home is more vulnerable.
They know that somebody working from their kitchen table rather than their desk in the office is subject to numerous distractions. Therefore, they are more likely to fall victim to the type of rouse they would otherwise spot easily.
The solution here is to recalibrate deadlines and productivity targets to reflect the changes in circumstances. While this may affect costs in the short term, it can be considerably cheaper than the cost the same business would face recovering from a successful cyberattack.
