Cybersecurity 101: Don’t Be The Low-Hanging Fruit

Small business owners today are more concerned about cybersecurity than ever before – and they should be! 

That’s because, unfortunately, cyber-crime is at an all-time high and cyber-criminals are more sophisticated than ever before. So business owners wonder, understandably, whether they’re doing enough to keep their organization, their data, and their customers safe. 

But how can they really know? 

Now I can’t give you a full, personalized answer to that question in a blog entry, but if you’d like to have a conversation about it, click here to get in touch. However, there are some key facts that I’m going to share with you in this blog:

First and foremost, understand that cyber-criminals go after low-hanging fruit. You’ve probably heard the joke about the two hikers that come across an angry bear. One hiker quickly bends over to lace up her shoes. Their companion says, “what are you doing? You can’t possibly outrun the bear.” And the hiker responds, “I don’t have to – I just have to outrun you.” 

That’s how it works in cybersecurity, too. You don’t have to have “perfect” cybersecurity – in fact, that’s an impossible goal to achieve. Instead, your goal should be to have robust-enough defenses that cybercriminals don’t waste their time and effort on you, and instead move on to easier targets. 

How do you do that?

It starts with implementing cyber hygiene best practices. These are practices that, when properly implemented, make it much more difficult for the bad guys to break into your castle. There are more details than we can cover in this space, but I’m going to cover two really important indicators below. 

The first: Has your IT vendor implemented Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) throughout your company email system? Email compromise is one of the most common access points for cybercriminals – and implementing MFA makes it more difficult for the bad guys to get access. 

And second: Has your IT vendor implemented MFA across your remote access entry points? Your VPNs, your remote desktops – every entry-point into your systems needs to be protected through MFA.

If the answer to either of these questions is “no” – that’s an indicator that you’re way behind the eight-ball and you need to make a change immediately. 

Don’t let your business be the “low-hanging fruit” for cybercriminals. 

If you’d like to have a conversation about cybersecurity in your business, please reach out to us via email at info@weareproactive.com or 704-464-3075 extension 3.      

Dedicated to IT security and productivity,  

– Steve