This year’s Business Show featured presentations and panel discussions with experts from across the industry. We’ve collated our highlights for those who missed the event.
Small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly becoming the targets of cyber fraud as criminals shift their sights from large organisations to small ones. The reason? Smaller companies don’t have such deep pockets to fight back. Benedict Jones, Cyber Security Specialist from Sophos, shares his insights and advice on how to protect your business.
The threat landscape
Malware has evolved into a vast criminal enterprise and so much so that cyber fraud today accounts for the vast majority of fraud-related incident, says Benedict. ‘The difference today is that criminals are starting to tailor ransomware to specific victims.’ Instead of infecting as many organisations as possible, they’re now targeting individual companies, he says.
Criminals are changing their approach by switching from automation to manual processes. Automation made attacks quick to implement on a vast scale but also easier to detect. By adopting manual processes, attackers can target victims and react quickly to defence measures, adopting different strategies until they are successful.
Security measures
Nearly half of breaches in 2018 involved small businesses, according to the 2018 Verizon Data Breach Investigations report, with email being the most common entry point. Given the median cost of a ransomware attack to a business is a huge $133,000, Benedict shares some measures to protect your company from harm.
- Adopt a multi-layered security strategy that protects all your different channels.
- Start with endpoint security, such as antivirus software and keep it up-to-date.
- Opt for synchronised security products that can communicate with each other to protect the different layers of your business.
Key Takeaways
- Small businesses are growing targets for cyber fraud, so ensure you implement appropriate security measures.
- Start by installing antivirus systems, then adopt additional measures to protect all of your channels.
- Be wary of emails, as they’re the most common entry point for attackers.