Online banking, marketing through social media, remote workers – just how secure is your business?
Unknown to most, the criminal digital underground has become a growing threat to small business. Security expert Trend Micro’s published Threat Encyclopedia 2010 states that “ZeuS and other botnets control more than 100 million computers. This gives cybercriminals more computing power than the entire world’s supercomputers combined.”
Online theft has become a highly profitable business for organized crime. And the fact is that these criminals are not just targeting Fortune 500 companies any more. According to a December 2009 article from USA Today, Internet attacks against small businesses increased by nearly 600% the previous year.
These days large companies are investing record amounts in internet security. Small businesses are often much easier prey due to outdated security protection, ineffective firewalls and weak password controls. Using tactics like phishing schemes, ransomware, and malware attacks through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, online criminals are becoming increasingly adept at getting access to sensitive financial data.
To protect your business against these kind of threats we recommend that you start with some very basic steps:
- Keep your PC/network security current
- Choose secure passwords and change them regularly
- Educate staff on safe web usage
- If possible, limit web surfing through Content Filtering
- Do regular manual scans for spyware infections
