Published on January 12th, 2018 | by Guest

Our Ignorant Resistance to Cyber Security

The internet has been changing and developing very rapidly in the past few years. But with all of the progress technology has brought us there have also been new dangers to face. It’s very important to recognize the threats that are presented to financial, business, and even educational and health endeavors by ill-intentioned people on the internet. However the amount of “it’s never going to happen to me” confidence that entrepreneurs have has left many of them open to harm.

We often live in ignorant bliss when it comes to potential dangers in our own lives. When running businesses, however, we cannot afford to put our entire financial livelihood at stake, nor that of our employees either. Here are some ways in which we stay ignorant to cyber threats, and some advice on how we should take action.

We Devalue Cyber Security

Across the world, single security breaches are costing hundreds of thousands of dollars for businesses due to overconfidence in low grade security systems or no security system at all. Despite voices calling out from all directions to invest in cyber security (The Telegraph, CBS News, and The Huffington Post have all published articles on the topic within the last few years), business owners still refuse to take their warnings seriously.

Bigger companies don’t worry about the losses a breach may bring in comparison with the amount of money they make, CBS hypothesized. If that’s true, then maybe smaller businesses look at giants like Sony, Target, and many others and think because a hack didn’t hurt the big guys, they’ll be safe.

However, please keep in mind that relatively recent research says 60 percent of small businesses hit by a cyber attack go under within six months! If you own a small business, you are absolutely at risk and cyber security is vitally important.

We Don’t Think About Proper Precautions

With so many businesses going under due to cyber attacks, it’s important to set up the proper precautions and to teach your employees about to do the same. The thing business owners sometimes skip over, though, is that there’s more to cyber security than installing a firewall, backing up your information, and having private work WiFi.

First of all, encrypt your information and your backups. A simple Google search will tell you how to encrypt whatever you’re looking to guard — e-mails, PDFs, backups, and other important assets. Some computers even come with encryption software, such as newer Mac computers and FileVault.

Secondly, we don’t think about the dangers to our information in our everyday lives. For instance, you can’t encrypt information on a fax machine but it can still fall into the wrong hands. A more common modern-day example with the the internet is found in working remotely. Whatever WiFi network you and your employees use in remote work needs to be private, or else you can find yourself in big trouble. VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are effective in keeping work safe for those who enjoy working from public places like coffee shops and restaurants where the WiFi isn’t typically private.

Third, if there’s something you don’t think you can do, hire someone else to do it. This especially goes for backups. There are third party backup companies that use the power of big data to store your information and are well worth your time. This is one of the most secure ways you can use the cloud to backup your information and be confident it’s safe.

We Don’t Stay Informed

The internet is different in many ways than it was five or ten years ago. Naturally, the more the internet changes, the more that cyber security will also have to change. In the past ten years even, technology has allowed hackers to become better at what they do, and we’ve had to adapt.

Roger Grimes from InfoWorld wrote an article for CSO about how cyber security has changed in the last decade. He noted that while every single person worth hacking has, at this point, been hacked, we’re advancing in our cyber security proficiency through the popularization of things like encryption.

However if you’re not paying attention and you don’t know what encryption is, for instance, you leave your information more up for grabs and you’re more vulnerable to hacking and unethical web practices. Following people like Grimes on InfoWorld and just staying up to date with new cyber security practices and threats is worth spending your time on because it could save you a fortune in the future.

What has your experience been with cyber security, whether you’ve fallen flat on your face or avoided certain danger? Share what you’re comfortable with below!

Tags: cyber security, ignorant, resistance