With cybercrime on the rise, your small business is becoming more and more at risk of falling victim to cyber-attacks. 43% of all cyberattacks target small businesses. 60% of small businesses go out of business within the six months after the attack. So you must be prepared to defend yourself against this. One of the best ways to do that is to invest in network security measures.
What is Network Security?
Network security is essentially the protection of the privacy of computer networks and data. These often use both software (the programs on a computer) and hardware (the physical makeup of your computer) to work.
It acts as a ‘gatekeeper’ (which is often a set of rules and configurations, for a simple example, passwords) to stop any unauthorized users from coming in and stealing data or information, therefore keeping the network secure. It is essential protection against many types of the most popular cybercrime attacks and can save your business money and the government billions of dollars per annum.
What does network security protect against?
Network security protects against several online threats. Investing in services such as Spectrumwise can help protect against these. These threats can come from both inside and outside of your business but are often from external hackers trying to get into businesses to get data and information for their own interests or to sell to others.
As you can probably imagine, this can cause a serious problem to a company’s reputation and can cause serious issues for all those who have had sensitive data, such as credit accounts and medical records, stolen.
Here are some threats that network security protects against:
Social Engineering
Social engineering is a favorite practice among hackers and is one of the most successful. It is reliant on human interaction to work. It often comes randomly and can be a very convincing method of getting someone’s details. 43% of attacks that were directed toward small businesses were based on social engineering or phishing.
Phishing
Phishing is the use of using a front of a respected company or person to get information. This can be things such as spam calls posing as a bank or reputable business to get details out of you. Or, it can be methods that require emails or messages to install malware (malicious software, such as viruses, worms, trojans, and spyware). Or to install ransomware (this is a type of advanced malware that locks your files on your computer, and there is a ransom demanded their releases, such as money or data. There is a time limit until the hacker or the software will delete your files).
These types of threats are normally executed via a link in an email or an attachment. Sometimes, it can be done over social media, where a hacker will create a dual account of the authentic one. They try to get money or information out of those that follow the account who are mutuals to the original account’s owner. General malware took up 35% of all attacks on small businesses, and ransomware took up 2%.
See Also: Protection from phishing attacks
Spear Phishing
Spear phishing is sophisticated phishing. Spear-phishing focused on a certain institution, person, or organization, unlike phishing, which is more widespread. These are often far better planned than normal phishing, which is sent out by a general email or message. These are sometimes started by groups of hackers working together, not just one working individually.
Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)
Advanced persistent threats, or APTs, are long, targeted attacks on networks. The primary goal of these is often to remain undetected by those that use or monitor the network, hoping to collect as much data as they can. These are often used on public Wi-Fi services, which is why never purchase an item on a public, or free, Wi-Fi, as anyone who can break into the easily accessible network can see all data passing between devices or services, including your bank details. This can lead to identity fraudulence.