As a small business, it can be tempting to have the ‘it won’t happen to me’ attitude when it comes to cyber security. After all, why would hackers target such a small enterprise, right?
Wrong. Nowadays, cyber criminals don’t even necessarily have targets, so small businesses are just as likely (if not more so) to be at risk. Hackers send out malware and bad software into the web to find and exploit weaknesses in any IT systems that they can gain access to.
Plus, the majority of data breaches are caused by mistakes that happen internally, making it easy for cyber criminals to get in and cause significant damage. Even if you’ve got decent anti-virus software in place, your business will still be at risk if one of the following happens:
- You don’t update out-of-date software
- A colleague clicks a dodgy link in a spam email
- An infected USB stick is used in one of your devices
We tend to hear about big companies like the NHS, TalkTalk and Facebook getting hacked, but small businesses are affected just as badly. In May 2016, Nottingham-based Micromix Plant Health suffered a major ransomware attack that encrypted 10 years’ worth of company data and emails. Last year, e-commerce marketplace Rise Art fell victim to several attacks, one of which blocked its access to the internet with a distributed denial of service.
So, SME owners, it’s time to take action, as you are more hackable than you think!
