Why Small Businesses Need Cybersecurity, Too

Are you a recent start-up company? Do you have a small office? Are you just getting started in the digital world? Whatever your situation is—if you are in business, you need to have a smart, cybersecurity strategy.

There are compliance regulations that require any company who stores personal information to provide security for their customers or clients. But why? As you know, the privacy of every individual is extremely important, and if a hacker receives any personal information—names, DOB, passwords, credit card numbers, etc.—the access and possibilities are endless.

What Makes Small Businesses or Start Ups a Target?

Small and medium-sized businesses don’t have the deep pockets that enterprise organizations do. So, why are they such a target for hackers? Here's a few key reasons:

• Your valuable data: Hackers know even small companies' have data that’s easy to offload for a profit on the Dark Web—medical records, credit card information, Social Insurance numbers, bank account credentials, and proprietary business information. Cybercriminals are always trying to come up with new ways to steal this data. They either use it themselves to get into bank accounts and make fraudulent purchases or sell it to other criminals who will use it.
• Your computing power: Sometimes, cyberhackers are interested only in using a company’s computers and conscripting them into an army of bots to perpetrate massive DDoS attacks. DDoS works by artificially generating enormous amounts of web traffic to disrupt service to a company or group of companies. The hijacked bots help generate the disruptive traffic and interrupt your business operations as well as the target’s.
• Your links to the big fish: Today’s businesses are digitally connected to each other to complete transactions, manage supply chains, and share information. Since larger companies presumably (although not necessarily) are tougher to penetrate, hackers target smaller partners as a way to get into the systems of large companies.
• Your cash, pure and simple: When you think about it, cyberhackers target small businesses—or any other company—primarily for their own profit. Sure, some attacks are about disruption, as is the case with DDoS, but usually, the motive is to make money. This explains why ransomware is such a popular method of attack. It often succeeds, generating revenue for attackers. And as long as an attack method proves lucrative, hackers will keep using it.

So, what can you do to prevent this from happening? 

There are a wide variety of cybersecurity companies who can provide you with products or services that you need, but it's important to find the right partner. 

In the past, a lot of smaller companies simply relied on firewalls or other intrusion prevention and detection systems, but that is not good enough anymore. As a small to medium sized business, a service from a cybersecurity company can ensure you are keeping compliance regulations and properly securing the privacy and information of your customers and clients that you keep. That's where we come in. You deserve to have the same level of protection that large enterprise companies have at a price point that you can afford.

Compliance 

No matter your size, there are regulations set up for any entity that keeps personal information. Depending on the type of industry that a company is categorized by, they are subject to comply with GDPR, PCI, PIPEDA or one of the many other regulation bodies. 

Each separate organization covers a different field, for example, PCI (Payment Card Industry) oversees the security for credit cards; GDPR is mainly a European regulation but technically applies to virtually every company in the world if they have the personal data belonging to one individual; PIPEDA is the old personal information protection and electronic documents act that was put into place on April 13, 2000.  PIPEDA is currently under review and will likely be replaced in the next 24 months with a new privacy act that is touted to be even tougher than GDPR.  These laws apply to 100% of companies in Canada, no matter how large or small.

When you start a business, or when you first start storing personal information, you may not know which compliance regulations apply to your company, but you can turn to a cybersecurity company for help. At InfiniteIT, we not only know what compliance regulations you must abide by, but can give you the services needed to stay within the guidelines. 

Cybersecurity Services 

Being a smaller company can be challenging in many ways, especially when it comes to cybersecurity. But don't be intimidated—there are simple solutions that can work for you. Whether you find reliable products or turn to the services of a cybersecurity company (like us!), there are scalable security options for you and your business.

Any organization that neglects cybersecurity is taking a huge risk. And as businesses grow more and more interconnected, those risks extend to customers, partners, and suppliers. To ensure peace of mind and protect against costly malware, ransomware, bots, and other threat actors.  Small businesses need to implement 360-degree cybersecurity measures that include antivirus programs, firewalls, and network security solutions that proactively protect all devices connected to your network.

Finding the Right Partner

At Infinite IT Solutions, we believe security is mission critical for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Risk may be a part of business, but it doesn't have to be a part of your technology.

Our services like iCare and iSecure can help streamline your processes, enhance your cybersecurity, and grow with your business. Let's chat about how we can help your small business build out your cybersecurity strategy