In 2017 even Google itself is concerned that the higher they rank the business the bigger target it becomes for all the cyber-criminals out there. Still, this might lead some to false presumptions that only major corporations and worldwide conglomerates have something to fear online. In truth, no one is truly safe. You see, while hacking an SMB may lead to a smaller reward, it also poses a smaller risk, seeing how most smaller enterprises don’t have that much money to invest in cyber-security. This being said, here are a few cyber threats that all SMBs should watch out for.

1.      DoS Attack

One of the most important aspects of business is providing a quality customer service. Here, both helpfulness and expediency play a role, so what happens if your visitors can’t even access your customer service because your website is overloaded already. Simply put, the notorious DoS attack is nothing more than sending more traffic your way than your website can handle. This being said, the only effective way of fighting this lies in monitoring closely any irregular spike in your website’s traffic.

2.      Malware

Installing an unknown third-party software might lead to a malware attack, which is all but harmless for your business. Keep in mind that just because you have an Antivirus, potentially even anti-malware software doesn’t mean that you are 100 percent safe from these attacks. These malicious programs get more advanced by the hour and you need to find a way to keep up with them.

This means updating your anti-malware regularly and doing the same thing with your firewall. It also helps for you to pay for a premium version instead of using a free one. Most importantly, however, you need to make sure you don’t install anything suspicious on your computer. The best way to deal with all of this is to simply outsource your IT services. Some companies, such as Picnet IT Support Sydney, offer a holistic approach to your company’s IT in order to make sure that these safety measures in no way interfere with your company’s digital efforts.

3.      An Inside Attack

Unfortunately, sometimes the problem with your cyber-safety won’t be related to an outside threat but an inside one. The greatest problem with this is the fact that there is no actual breach for you to trace. In fact, the problem was initiated by someone who was authorized to make these changes in the first place, which puts you in a disadvantageous situation. This is why, it is vital that you be careful of who you are giving access to, as well as to revoke this status as soon as they leave your company.

4.      Password Attack

Finally, if your password is too simple or too predictable, no amount of cyber-security is going to help you. One of the greatest problems with coming up with a new password lies in the fact that people fear they will have trouble remembering it. This makes them use phrases such as nicknames, pet names or even birthday dated in order to make the password memorable. Even worse, they use a single password for several different platforms.

This means that an experienced hacker won’t even have to use a sophisticated hacking program but simply take a look at your Facebook page and figure it out intuitively. In order to avoid this happening to you, it is a good idea to come up with passwords containing random sequences of different characters, make every single one you use completely unique and, above all, change them regularly.

In Conclusion

For those who are still not convinced of just how serious these threats are, there is a statistic which claims that about 43 percent of all cyber-attacks target small businesses. This is mainly because only 14 percent of these businesses have adequate safety measures to protect them from this kind of malicious activity. In other words, hackers see these small businesses as a low-risk moderate-reward kind of scenario, which may at times seem quite compelling. Luckily, as you could see from the above-listed, there are more than a few ways to make your business’ cyber-security ironclad.