MANILA, PHILIPPINES – As businesses switch to remote work, cybercrime soars and puts them all at the risk of suffering substantial financial, data, and reputation losses. Cybercriminals are attacking businesses on all scales, and only the ones who have shored up their cybersecurity are in a better position.
Let’s see how small businesses can protect themselves from such individuals
What Kinds of Cyberattacks Are Out There?
Since the rise of hackers, they have found multiple ways to inflict damages to businesses. Let’s talk about some of these attacks.
Password Attacks
Password attacks are one of the most widespread methods used by hackers. In this type of cyberattack, hackers attach themselves to an unsecured internet connection used by the company or employees and then extract all the encrypted passwords from the system.
After the extraction is complete, the hackers use these passwords to freely access, manipulate and control the respective system and data.
Malware
Malware attacks include worms, spyware, and viruses. It can insert itself into a system through any planted email attachment or link. Some of the disruptions inflicted by malware include:
- Shutting down a system, making it inoperable.
- Extracting and stealing data from system hard drives.
- Denying access to essential components of the network.
Man-in-the-Middle (MitM)
In these types of attacks, hackers attach themselves to the middle of an ongoing two-party transaction. After intercepting the transaction, they can easily steal and manipulate data from your system.
These attacks usually occur on an unsecured internet connection such as public Wi-Fi and are one of the most difficult to detect.
Phishing
Phishing attacks are conducted by spamming malicious emails to users. The hackers disguise these emails to look legit and come from reliable sources. But once an unsuspecting user clicks on the link, it downloads a hostile file that grants the attacker control of your system.
Some of the phishing attack types include:
- Pharming – capturing login credentials using a fake landing page.
- Spear Phishing – attacks launched at a specific individual or company.
- Whaling – attacks launched against essential members of a company (stakeholders, senior executives)
Why Are Small Businesses More Affected by Cybercrimes?
It has been observed that small businesses face more troubles while protecting themselves from cybercrimes. The main reason for this is that they have just started establishing themselves in the market, lacking the necessary knowledge and financing.
Hackers are aware of their situations and target such companies as they are easier to handle. Since most cybercrime solutions are pretty expensive, these attacks leave devastating results on small businesses.
What Can Small Businesses Do to Prevent Cybercrimes?
Although there are a lot of cybercrime solutions in the market, it is difficult for small businesses to finance them. But a VPN can provide similar results while saving your money. It can give a lot of benefits to small companies, and some of them include:
Data Confidentiality
Many remote workers have to connect to public internet connections while moving. But most of these connections are completely insecure and can be easily hacked. It can result in severe breaches and corruption of data.
But using a VPN guarantees the confidentiality of your data. It completes this task by putting multiple levels of encryptions on any information going in and out of your system. Since all of your data is scrambled, it leaves no room for a third party snooping or stealing.
Secure from Virus Attacks
Many virus attacks are carried out through fake emails embedded with extensions and links. Once an employee clicks on these links, a hacker can inject software and programs into the system.
A business VPN comes equipped with a malware website detector and email filtration system. It will inform you and filter out malicious links as soon as you get them. It can be highly beneficial to your employees and your company.
Less Costly
The market is filled with IT experts, and they provide some of the most expensive solutions to tackle problems related to cybercrimes. On the other hand, a VPN can give almost the same level of result while costing less.
Besides this, VPN companies provide additional discounts to businesses on monthly and yearly plans. You can also get other deals based on the number of employees using the VPN.
