By J. Clemonts Junior, Owner, Technificent Solutions LLC
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness month. Many business owners feel as though they do not have “a stake in that fight” and simply shrug it off. But if you’re reading this, then that means that you’re not the average business owner. I hope that I’m right, because with modern business depending on IT and its security, business owners can no longer afford to be passive about their IT infrastructure.
Many business owners I talk to about IT tell me that they’re “too small” or “too unimportant” to be a victim of a cyber-crime. “Hackers have better targets than my business,” they reason, so they neglect any security for their business at all. This is akin to ignoring your tax and credit card debt and believing that they will go away on their own.
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness month. Many business owners feel as though they do not have “a stake in that fight” and simply shrug it off. But if you’re reading this, then that means that you’re not the average business owner. I hope that I’m right, because with modern business depending on IT and its security, business owners can no longer afford to be passive about their IT infrastructure.
Many business owners I talk to about IT tell me that they’re “too small” or “too unimportant” to be a victim of a cyber-crime. “Hackers have better targets than my business,” they reason, so they neglect any security for their business at all. This is akin to ignoring your tax and credit card debt and believing that they will go away on their own.
Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Over half of all cyber-crimes happen against small and medium-sized businesses, defined as businesses with 100 or fewer employees. What this means to you is that your business is not “too small” or “too unimportant” to be a target – it’s a target to criminals for those very reasons. Many businesses do not have the resources or expertise needed to successfully fend off an attack. So when a business such as yours is hit, the damage is going to be significant.
The average cyber-attack ends up costing a business around $9,000 to process. I tell my clients that if they cannot write a check that size without any negative repercussions, we need to have some talks about their IT infrastructure. Following an attack, most businesses are closed for around 72 hours. Ask yourself, can you afford for your business to not generate revenue for that long? If the answer is no, then you need to take a second look at your security posture.
Since October is National Cybersecurity Awareness month, take some time to evaluate your company’s IT security. What would you do if your computer crashed tomorrow? Even worse, what would you do if your employees could no longer login because a message on their screens is demanding that you give them something called a “bitcoin?” If you don’t have an answer for questions like these, or if you don’t like the honest answers to these questions, use this month to whip your security into shape. If you feel intimidated in doing so, contact a professional to help you. Ignoring a problem does not make it go away. It usually makes it worse. When that problem has to potential to shut your doors for many days and cost a significant amount of money, it’s usually better to face it head-on than to ignore it
The average cyber-attack ends up costing a business around $9,000 to process. I tell my clients that if they cannot write a check that size without any negative repercussions, we need to have some talks about their IT infrastructure. Following an attack, most businesses are closed for around 72 hours. Ask yourself, can you afford for your business to not generate revenue for that long? If the answer is no, then you need to take a second look at your security posture.
Since October is National Cybersecurity Awareness month, take some time to evaluate your company’s IT security. What would you do if your computer crashed tomorrow? Even worse, what would you do if your employees could no longer login because a message on their screens is demanding that you give them something called a “bitcoin?” If you don’t have an answer for questions like these, or if you don’t like the honest answers to these questions, use this month to whip your security into shape. If you feel intimidated in doing so, contact a professional to help you. Ignoring a problem does not make it go away. It usually makes it worse. When that problem has to potential to shut your doors for many days and cost a significant amount of money, it’s usually better to face it head-on than to ignore it
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