While cybercriminals might see value in everyone, experts warn that businesses are prime targets because they can be data and financial gold mines. That’s why company owners need to take cybercrime prevention seriously.
Businesses collect a lot of information about their customers and they need to have it accessible. That’s where malicious Trojans and ransomware come into play and how cybercrooks can strike.
Trojans include a variety of software that once installed on a business’s computers can collect personal and financial information. Ransomware is designed to block access to your data unless a financial ransom is paid to unlock it so you can access it again.
These two types of malware can be dangerously easy to install if a business is careless about protection. This malware is often passed along via methods as simple as email, text messages or infected software. Cybercriminals count on employees to click on links or download attachments in email, which will then install the malware and make life miserable, potentially bringing daily operations to a standstill until the problems are corrected.
So the big question becomes, “How can I protect my business?”
Here are some tips to help shield your company:
Hire qualified IT professionals or contract with a company that offers IT services. You’ll want to ensure that they set up and maintain firewalls, run regular scans, back up files, block suspicious email and keep software up to date to ensure that security fixes are installed. You’ll also want them to have a plan for quickly dealing with any problems that might arise.
Employees will need to be trained and regularly reminded to follow safe computing policies. This will require reminders to not click on links or download attachments in emails unless they are certain the senders are legit. If they suspect they might have been tricked, they need to report it right away so the IT staff can deal with any issue before it’s too late.
You should also make sure employees have no more access to files than is necessary and that they should not install any software or use external USB flash drives without permission.
Knowing that your business could easily be a target for cybercriminals is scary, so do something to prevent it before it’s too late.