Many medium and small businesses are known for neglecting their cybersecurity. This usually arises due to several reasons, including financial constraints, human resource problems, or fear.
Mostly, however, many businesses are not focused on cybersecurity since they are under the impression that cyber threats only affect larger businesses.
However, medium to small-sized businesses are also popular targets when it comes to malicious cyber criminals since these companies often have weak cybersecurity. Find out more about XDR and how it can help to mitigate security threats.
Here is a list of some of the common threats in SME cybersecurity that are commonly overlooked.
USB Sticks
USB sticks are incredibly useful since they are portable and compact. They are also easy to manipulate or steal when they are not looked after or stored in safe places.
Harmful virus software and bugs are easy to install on USB sticks which is why it is important to never insert a USB stick into one of your computers when you have not had it in your possession.
Common examples of this are when your USB stick has gone missing and it has reappeared, or you are given a USB stick for free. Your USB stick should be encrypted, and you should also include password protection.
Zombie Accounts
The GDPR in 2019 was one of the most dominant topics, and the introduction of new regulations caused many companies to start thinking about how they store and find their data.
Even when a company is GDPR compliant, it should still be mindful of the risks involved when it comes to zombie accounts.
A zombie account is an online account that was closed by a user and later re-opened by another party, without the consent of the original user.
Owners of businesses should also know that a zombie account could also be a previous employee, providing hackers easy access to private information about the business or their website.
Pinpointing, deactivating, and then deleting zombie accounts is important to protect your business. Senseon is a cybersecurity service that can assist you with this.
Data Security
When it comes to maintaining legally-required GDPR compliance, the way you store the data of your clients is vital. Many companies feel overwhelmed when it comes to data storage, or they don't have the resources or time to manage or understand their data.
Yet, there are a few simple steps you can take to make sure the data of your clients is always protected.
Strong passwords are vital when it comes to protecting your company from security breaches. Your passwords should contain lower-case and capital letters, symbols, and numbers which should be at least 8 to 12 characters long. This will make your passwords harder to crack.
You should also have a firewall installed. For an adequately protected network, a firewall is essential. Firewalls are designed to protect a network by controlling the internet traffic that flows out and into the business.
Your computers should also be updated and properly patched to ensure full protection. When you update your programs, it will show any recent holes or issues that a programmer has fixed.