When it comes to protecting your company’s important data, cyber security can’t be stressed enough. Cyber criminals are constantly looking for new ways to steal data from businesses, via attacking them online and, unfortunately, they tend to be widely successful at this. Savvy businesses are taking a proactive approach to ensuring their network’s integrity is protected at all times.
Cyber security provides security measures to protect computers, hardware, software, and all other forms of data from hostile cyber attacks. In order to ensure your business is protected, a qualified IT professional should analyze existing systems and plan out an effective strategy. Because an organization’s data is so essential to its core, any vulnerable aspects could be maliciously exploited and lead to disastrous results and stolen data. Being proactive will help to prevent this.
In order to be proactive about mitigating threats, users need to constantly be adapting to current trends. This is because cybersecurity threats are always lurking. It’s important to monitor your data and network, as well as reassess those components, to preventing breaches, on an ongoing basis. While all business are in danger of having their data exploited, there are several industries that are more vulnerable to cyber criminals:
Retail
Since they hold sensitive customer data, retail businesses are significantly more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Cyber criminals who are looking for financial information tend to be more structured and organized, making it imperative that retail organizations protect their data by investing in firewalls and security applications, to prevent hackers from accessing sensitive data. In addition to that, many retail businesses are moving to online platforms, in order to increase sales. Because of this, retailers who sell online and accept online payments have more of a chance of being exposed to cyber attacks.
Finance & Insurance
Because financial and insurance industries retain significant amounts of sensitive personal data, such as bank account details and financial information, these organizations have a very high chance of being exposed to cyber attacks. If that information is obtained, because of how sensitive it is, it becomes costly and time-consuming to recover and recreate lost data. In addition to that, these security breaches often go undetected, unknowingly compromising their client’s data.
Education
Many educational institutions are required to store the personal information of students and parents, such as social security numbers and banking and financial information. This source of information is highly confidential and is, therefore, at greater risk of cyber attacks.
Because of the large number of organizations that are at risk of data and security breaches, it’s important for businesses to be proactive. Organizations must be aware of things such as phishing emails, vulnerable software and malware. Phishing emails are attempts to collect personal information, such as usernames and passwords through, seemingly, trustworthy sources. They often direct users to “branded” fake websites where they unwittingly provide personal information to cyber criminals.
Weak software allows for vulnerability in programs that can be easily accessed by hackers. Malware is a software that’s designed to cause damage to computers and networks, often unleashed by an an untrained employee, clicking on an “unknown” attachment. These destructive programs have the ability to spread and attack multiple users, once they gain access to your network. In order to prevent such things, qualified IT professionals must be utilized, and employees should be trained to recognize security risks. If these proactive steps are taken, the cybersecurity of a business will be significantly increased.
Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, WheelHouse Solutions can provide your business with a free Network Assessment, where we determine if your network is secure and protected from online threats. We’ll work with you to analyze your needs and recommend a strategy that’s custom designed for your business. If you would like more information about our Free Network Assessment, click here or call us at 314-492-2506 to speak with one of our knowledgeable sales representatives.