Cybersecurity for your small business

In today’s increasingly digital, data-driven world, businesses of all sizes rely heavily on technology to carry out day-to-day operations and perform basic business functions. As a result of increased adoption of technology, connectivity with third-party providers and other technology-led initiatives has exposed businesses to additional cyber vulnerabilities.

For most small businesses, it is not a matter of ‘if’ you will be attacked but rather when you be attacked or if you already been attacked without your realising.

Important facts

Since the pandemic began,

• the FBI reported a 300% increase in reported cybercrimes (IMC Grupo)
• ransomware attacks increase by nearly 500 per cent
• 27% of COVID-19 cyberattacks targeted banks or healthcare organizations with COVID-19 credited for a 238% rise in cyberattacks on banks in 2020 (Fintech News)
• Google blocked 18 million daily malware and phishing emails related to Coronavirus in April 2020 (Google).
• half a million Zoom user accounts were compromised and sold on a dark web forum in April 2020 (CPO Magazine).

WordPress under attack

For the past 2 – 3 weeks I been receiving approx 300 email notifications per day of hacker attempts on customers websites (see image below). Most of the notifications report the most popular and basic security mistakes people make because hackers know that vast number of small business owners that do not have a clue about securing their sites.

This latest round of hacking attempts appears to be using a script of typical basic security exploits and has been automated to target WordPress sites. The attacks take a few hours and they go from one site then they move to another starting all over again.

Cyber-attacks often target client data. When client data is compromised, businesses may not only experience financial loss, but also reputational and relationship damage.

As a business it is critical that you are aware of the risk and take action to protect your customers data and your business. For some small business you also have legal requirements under the Privacy Act and could face significant fines if you have not taken appropriate action.

Cybersecurity Tips for Small Business

For the past few months we worked and created “Cybersecurity Tips for Small Business” report to help you understand the problem and what you can do about it. We know that small business owners do not have a lot of time so we made our report concise and to the point.