Throughout 2018 many major businesses were making the news after experiencing devastating cyber attacks and data breaches, such as the Marriott Starwood hotels and Timehop - but this shouldn't lead small businesses to believe they're out of the line of fire.

 

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Large organisations might make headlines with the number of users effected and revenue lost through these attacks, but small businesses are actually targeted more frequently, making up for 58% of malware attacks and 54% of general email scams. This works out at an estimated 65,000 attempted cyber attacks on small UK businesses every day, with a successful hack taking place every 19 seconds.

Not only are these companies targeted more, but they often can't afford the repercussions, with over half of all cyber attacks resulting in financial damages of $500,00+ (around £380,000+) and 40% of companies reporting at least 8 hours of downtime following a serious security breach, according to Cisco's SMB Cybersecurity Report.

Pointing out the lack of resiliency in small companies compared to large might not seem like revolutionary information to most, but in many cases the fault lies in these organisations' poor security measures rather than factors out of their control. According to recent studies, 34% of IT managers believe there are too many security products and solutions to properly understand how they all work, with 30% stating that the software is too difficult to deploy and manage effectively.

The truth is that, size aside, most advanced online threats can be avoided before they take place when an organisation sets in place a complete security solution - and this might not be as expensive or complicated as you think.

 

So, what are the basic elements of a strong security solution?

  • Firewall

A firewall is vital for protecting your network from direct attacks like malware injections. Firewalls on the market can come with DDoS protection, SD-WAN, VPNs, and more to help both protect your network, and improve it's efficiency and connectivity.

 

  • Backup & Archiving

A secure backup solution - either cloud-based or in an off-site location - is necessary for ensuring important and confidential data won't be lost for good in any future cyber-attacks, or even just from accidental deletion. Adding archiving to this routine will also simplify compliance & eDicovery requests, helping you to avoid unnecessary fines and allocate time to more urgent tasks.

 

  • Email Security

The majority of online advanced threats are sent to users via email, so the best security measure is to stop these attacks before they even reach your mailbox. Some email security solutions will even include helpful extra features like encryption and link protection.

 

 

Our Suggestions

Office 365 Essentials

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For Office 365 users, this all-in-one solution provides Email Security, Advanced Threat Protection, Archiving & Cloud-to-Cloud Backup. With complete protection for data, email & cloud infrastructure in one package, organisations can prepare, migrate & operate faster, safer & more efficiently.

 

Cloud Generation Firewall

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In the cloud era traditional network firewalls aren't enough, with the need increasing for not just network security but also an assurance of uninterrupted network availability and access to cloud-hosted applications.

Altinet's Cloud Gen Firewall also includes advanced threat protection, secure SD-WAN, remote access, and simple central management.

 

Still doubting your need for all these security measures?
Try our free Email Threat Scanner now!

 

 

 

Sources:

Cisco

Appstractor

Hiscox