In today’s business world, there is nothing as essential as small business security. Your network provides access to critical applications, and houses sensitive company and customer data. A single network security breach can shut down your operations for days, or allow a hacker to steal vital business data. The FBI estimates that US businesses lose US$67.2 billion annually due to computer-related crime.
That’s why small business security is dependent upon defending against common threats, such as:
- Viruses, spyware, and malware. These malicious programs can install themselves through e-mail and visits to Websites, and can record passwords, or troll through files for credit card, bank account, and other sensitive information.The use of Websites to host malicious code is exploding, and makes small business security especially vulnerable. Antivirus vendor, Sophos, reported that it was identifying 30,000 new malicious Websites per day. These malicious Websites—as well as many legitimate sites that were infected with malicious code—infect millions of users each year.
- Hackers. The number of organizations targeted by professional attackers is likely to grow and raise the threat to small business security. While much of the current professional cyber-crime activity targets home users, organizations are likely to see more infected systems attempting to access protected networks.