Four Types of Security Threats That Can Affect Your Business

A lack of business data security is a problem that plagues businesses of all sizes. While you may think that your company must be well-known for cybersecurity to be a matter of much concern, small business owners everywhere should be operating with preventing security threats at the forefront of their minds. You don’t have to be a large corporation to become the target of cybercrimes.

Data breaches have become a considerable concern, especially in recent years, with an estimated 58% of breaches recorded in 2017 targeting small to mid-sized businesses. To protect your business, TeknaByte believes that you must be aware of the types of security threats that can affect your business. Today, we will be discussing four of the most common types of security threats that you should be aware of and take the necessary measures to prevent.

The Importance of Preventing Business Security Threats

So why should you, as a business owner, be concerned about how vulnerable your business is to a security threat? There are many reasons that preventing a data breach should be a primary concern for your business. After all, data breaches have been happening for a very long time, but cyberattacks are occurring with increasing frequency each year.

A cyberattack can spell disaster for your business. From avoiding the loss of physical data to preventing costly system downtime, all it takes is one cyberattack to cease the operation of your business. With system downtime, specifically, comes great cost. Ask yourself how long your business could stand for your entire system to be down and translate this into a loss of service and revenue. As you can imagine, a cyberattack can take a huge financial toll on your business.

Aside from affecting business operations, data breaches can also pose a threat to the protection of both employee and customer information. Data breaches will compromise this valuable information, enabling hackers to access everything from confidential personal information to credit card numbers. To prevent a data breach, you must be aware of some of the biggest security threats that can leave your business open to attack. Let’s take a closer look!

Disgruntled Employees

Believe it or not, employees pose the most significant security risk for businesses of all sizes. This is because employees know where valuable data is stored, as well as how to access it. The number one most common cause of a data breach is found in the efforts of disgruntled employees to cause an internal attack on your business’s system.

So how can you stop an internal attack organized by a disgruntled employee? For one, you should always stay on top of business network security measures. This involves changing passwords frequently, updating authentications and credentials periodically, and monitoring and managing access to credentials as carefully as possible. Always make sure to log privileged account activity and stay on the lookout for any activity that seems suspicious.

Mobile Users

Portable computing software is being utilized in increasing numbers to boost employee productivity in workplaces around the country. Although there is much to be said for the power of mobile devices in the workplace when used responsibly, keep in mind that every mobile device operates as an uncontrolled workstation that has access to your business data.

If a mobile device is misplaced or stolen, this poses a considerable cybersecurity risk to your business’s data. Alongside that concern, there is also the risk that a downloaded app could contain malware that can then be transmitted to the entirety of your business network. Education is one of the greatest defenses against this particular security threat, and you must enforce specific preventative policies in the workplace to regulate the use of company mobile devices. Have a clear “bring your own device” policy in effect within your company. It is also vital that you utilize data encryption and user authentication if your business uses mobile devices.

Careless Employee Practices

Another huge business security threat that can affect your business is careless employees. In addition to purposeful, malicious attacks on your business’s network by employees, there is also a tremendous security threat posed by employees operating in a careless fashion when using your business network. These behaviors include leaving passwords within plain sight, coworkers sharing passwords, or employees opening suspicious emails.

Although these actions aren’t enacted with malicious intent, they can prove just as harmful to your business and lead to a data breach. The solution to this particular security threat is to put the effort into making sure that your employees are properly trained on the best security practices. Make sure every employee within your workforce understands the importance of data security and remind them of the risks associated with malware on a regular basis. This is the best way to prevent a data security breach caused by carelessness.

Outdated Software

Finally, another of the biggest business security threats that can affect your business is found in the use of outdated software. With new malware and variations of viruses being created every day, it is important that your network is outfitted to protect against the newest forms of cyberattacks. Operating systems must be updated with security patches regularly. Your best strategy in reinforcing your network infrastructure is to maintain frequent updates that include security patches and make sure that these changes extend to all employee workstations. You should also make it a priority to migrate to newer versions of outdated software so that you always remain protected.

Protect Your Business with TeknaByte!

After reading this article, you should be asking yourself what you can do to keep your business safe from these types of security threats. With TeknaByte’s services, your business is given a greater degree of protection against data breaches resulting from these types of security threats. Contact TeknaByte today to see how you can reinforce your business’s infrastructure and provide greater security to employee and client confidential information!