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SMBs Go Out of Business After Hacking; Large Corporations Better Prepared to Defend Attack

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS – August 13, 2021 – Cyberattacks and Ransomware threats now result in 60 percent of SMBs going out of business within six months, according to statistics from the National Cyber Security Alliance.

“Cybersecurity is intimidating, hard to define, and virtually impossible to quantify until you are the victim of an attack,” states Paul Enloe, CEO of BrevAll Technologies. “Small and medium-sized businesses are being targeted because they don’t have the resources to protect themselves. The ROI for hackers is better with smaller businesses than large corporations, even though the individual return may be smaller.”

Large corporations have been the target of cyberattacks for years, with some of the nation’s largest, like McDonalds, Adobe, eBay, Equifax, LinkedIn, Marriott, Target, and Yahoo all suffering the effects of cybersecurity breaches.

As a result of these breaches, cybercriminals are tackling more critical infrastructure to demand heftier sums. Recently the Colonial pipeline, which is responsible for supplying 45 percent of the fuel for the East Coast, was hit with a ransomware attack. The immediate impact on the consumer was well-publicized, but the $4.4 million paid to restore service slipped largely through the cracks.

While large corporations are responding to the threat, SMBs are quickly becoming the low-hanging fruit for cybercriminals and hackers looking for quick scores.

Anti-virus software and firewalls are rudimentary in the cybersecurity industry and have been for more than two decades. Here are six steps that any SMB can take to protect its staff, customers, and future from cybersecurity disturbances.

BrevAll Works to Help Businesses Protect themselves from Cyberattacks

  1. Use “Layers of Security”– Taking a layered approach to security enables damage to be quarantined while simultaneously reducing the severity of an attack. Establishing layers can be efficiently completed as long as the network administrator has a well-organized and maintained infrastructure.
  2. Activate Multi-Factor or “2-Step” Authentication – Most companies now require multi-factor authentication upon logging into critical systems, requiring the user to confirm their identity before proceeding further, via text message or phone call. While this is likely to become ubiquitous across all platforms, especially cloud apps, other internal technology systems need to be configured to provide this basic yet highly effective layer of security.
  3. Have a Data Backup or Data Recovery Plan – In the event of a breach or an outage, it’s handy to have all necessary data duplicated and stored securely in a remote location. Not only does this thwart less sophisticated cybercriminals who are counting on their target to be underprepared, but it eliminates the downtime that any breach or outage could cause while employees “get things back up to speed.”
  4. Use a Security Operations Center (SOC) – In the same way that residential homes are supported by a remote security center, with 24/7 monitoring, notification, and authority alerting capabilities, your team’s devices should be similarly supported. A good SOC will monitor network traffic, endpoints, logs, security events, and more so that analysts can use this information to identify vulnerabilities and prevent breaches. Your platform should create an alert when suspicious activity is detected, indicating that further investigation is required.
  5. Mandatory Cybersecurity Training for Employees –Unfortunately, “human error” is often the cause of security breaches. If a company has not mandated cybersecurity training for employees, then undereducated employees can accidentally serve as a hacker’s greatest ally. These employee training classes do not take much time, and they can be configured to track and confirm employee progress.
  6. Remove All IT Tasks from the CEO’s List of Responsibilities –CEOs are typically one of the people with the least amount of technical know-how in the company. CEOs often feel obligated to be involved on a technical level when they need to stay at the strategic level, while staff with more up-to-date skills figure out the logistics required. SMBs without the technological know-how should stop here and consider hiring an expert IT advisor to guide them through installations, monitoring, and ongoing management of critical security systems.

While hackers continue to search for targets, the steps outlined above are immediately actionable. They will serve as a solid foundation for most businesses that wish to prepare themselves for the coming threat.

ABOUT BREVALL TECHNOLOGIES

BrevAll Technologies, Inc. is a 33-year-old, North Richland Hills, Texas-based technology firm focused on Cybersecurity, Dark Web Monitoring, Managed IT Services, and Voice over IP Cloud Solutions.

Call us Toll-Free at 800.838.0911 to learn more or visit http://www.brevall.com.

 

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