Over the last few years, business security breaches have been top billing on the news and in the headlines.  It almost feels like a new company is compromised daily. Target, Anthem, J.P. Morgan Chase, Ashley Madison, Home Depot and the IRS are just a very few of the world’s largest data breaches. (Knowledge is Beautiful) In response to these breaches, the National Cyber Security Alliance, whose partners include the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Small Business Administration, National Institute for Standards and Technology, Symantec, Microsoft, CA, McAfee, AOL and RSA, developed a list of the top threats your small business may face on the Internet.  Here is a review of the top security issues for small businesses.
- Malicious Code – This is the term used to describe any code in any part of a software system or script that is intended to cause undesired effects, security breaches or damage to a system. Malicious code includes attack scripts, viruses, worms, Trojan horses, backdoors, and malicious active content.
- Lost or Stolen Laptop or Mobile Devices – While device theft is hard to stop, limiting what a thief can access if possible. Â Solutions to protect data include: encryption programs that encode data or make it unreadable to outsiders, until a password or encryption key is entered.
- Phishing – Email that is intended to both deceive and gather information are fairly common phishing scams. Typically an email is sent to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft.
- Unsecure Wireless Networks – Many hackers can easily access unsecure wifi and gain access to private information.  To ensure this doesn’t happen to you, set up a wireless network with a unique password (not the default password). In addition, make sure you encrypt your wireless network with WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access).
- Employee Threat – Employees that have been passed over for a promotion, fired or laid off pose a threat since they may have access to passwords and data access points. Â To stop this from happening experts suggest dividing critical functions and responsibilities among employees within the company, limiting the possibility that one individual could commit sabotage.
Categorised in: Security