MightyRecruiterIn the virtual age, weapons and other tools of destruction may not be able to physically reach you through the screen, but cyber-attacks can surely cause significant damage to any small business. These criminal offenses involve attackers who attempt to possess or warp your business’s information through illegal methods for their own benefit. Often, criminals will aim to steal your confidential data for their personal, financial or technological gain. Fortunately, there are a number of steps you can take to ensure that your data is as protected as possible from cyber-attacks. As cyber-attacks have grown increasingly more advanced over the years, so have the technological methods that you have of preventing them and protecting small businesses.
What Types of Cyber Attacks Are Possible?
There are a number of different ways that hackers and criminals can try to access your data from anywhere in the world. Even as infringements on business data have grown more complex, cyber-attacks can usually still fit into one of the following categories.
- Viral attacks: Many computer users are familiar with virtual viruses, which are coded pieces of software that are usually downloaded – often without your knowledge or permission – onto your computer system. Like the viruses that affect humans, computer viruses are constantly changing and morphing, and new types of viruses may reach the internet every day.
- Spyware or malware: These stealthy types of cyber-attacks may be something you unintentionally downloaded or installed with another program or software. They usually have the capability to keep track of and remember your key strokes and can therefore capture and record secure information such as credit card data.
- Phishing: If you have ever received an email that looked suspicious or visited a website that seemed like a copy of the real thing, you may have been a victim of phishing. Phishers set up fake websites and email schemes that try to capture your personal data by tricking you into logging into a false version of a site that you are familiar with or by asking you to enter your financial information in order to be eligible for a prize that you have won.
- Pharming: This cyber-attack method is just as sneaky, if not more so, as phishing. Pharming involves a hacker redirecting a legitimate website to a fake version of the same site. Pharmers can then steal important data, such as login information and passwords, from those who are tricked into entering their information into the fake site.
- Bots and Trojan horses: These types of software or applications can often look perfectly innocent but contain malware or spyware that tracks your key strokes, looks through your computer files or even tricks the user into giving it the information directly.
What Can I Do to Prevent Cyber Attacks?
Small businesses are by no means defenseless when it comes to protecting themselves from cyber-attacks and getting rid of these nasty invaders if they are already present. Education, caution and protective programs are some of the best things you can do against cyber-attacks.
Educate your workforce on the dangers of cyber-attacks, what forms they come in and what the employee can do if they suspect one. Train employees on common ways that cyber-attacks can take place and warning signs to look out for.
Install the appropriate anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware and anti-spam protection onto each computer that your business uses. Many of these programs are available for low or no cost, and many are extremely effective against most types of cyber-attacks.
Always check for secure connections and sender legitimacy when entering your information into a website or responding to an email. Cyber-attacks can be incredibly destructive to the confidential data of a small business. If you follow the steps above and keep your computers well-maintained, you will be shielded from the dangers of the virtual underworld.
Legal Disclaimer
The content on our website is only meant to provide general information and is not legal advice. We make our best efforts to make sure the information is accurate, but we cannot guarantee it. Do not rely on the content as legal advice. For assistance with legal problems or for a legal inquiry please contact you attorney.