Cyberattacks on Small Businesses Is on Rise: How to Defend Your Business

Mar 8
18:06

2021

Chunu Singh

Chunu Singh

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Small companies, especially with many workers now working from home, are a prime target for hackers. Small business owners, largely because of their lack of cyber security, are still a target for hackers. Phishing, brute-force attacks and ransomware are just some of the risks that small business owners face from cyber security.

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Small companies,Cyberattacks on Small Businesses Is on Rise: How to Defend Your Business Articles especially with many workers now working from home, are a prime target for hackers.Small business owners, largely because of their lack of cyber security, are still a target for hackers. Phishing, brute-force attacks and ransomware are just some of the risks that small business owners face from cyber security. In remote working environments, small business owners are forced to adopt strategies to protect their networks.

For hackers who can be a simpler target than remote employees? Small companies remain a prime target for cybersecurity attacks because working at home is the new standard amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This makes sense, because, many small businesses do not have a lot of money to spend on protecting their networks, nor are they prepared to switch too abruptly to a remote working area.

Small business owners need to protect their networks, make sure they are safe while using third-party apps, and avoid the wrong thing from being clicked by their remote employees. A herculean task, but an important one, is defence. It can be expensive and time-consuming to recover from a cyberattack. Several tiny businesses do not thrive. The first line of defence is to remain one step ahead of hackers. That comes from knowing the risks of cybersecurity. Below listed are types of cybersecurity attacks.

Phishing emails, texts & Malware

In the business world, phishing e-mails, in which hackers attempt to trick users into clicking on links, have long been a concern. During the pandemic, it has gotten even worse, as the bad guys peddle, bogus COVID-19 remedies, examinations, and access to vaccines. It was getting so bad that, at the end of December, the U.S. The Health and Human Services Department warned the public about pandemic-related fraud schemes.

It doesn’t help that many employees use their devices or go rogue with the applications they install to communicate with other remote workers and stay connected. That makes a business more vulnerable to other nefarious infections and malware. Fake versions of common messaging and video conference apps have been increasing since the beginning of the pandemic, installing malicious software to track your movements and keystrokes once you click on them. In 2020, 1.66 million unique malicious files distributed via fake versions of famous apps were spotted.

Brute-force attacks

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses had to scramble to give workers remote access to their networks, with many shifting to RDP servers, a Microsoft tool for remotely accessing Windows servers and desktops. The most up-to-date software was not built on those RDP servers, making them vulnerable to cyberattacks. This was manipulated by criminals, leading to a major upswing in attacks on those remote access servers. Read more