Computer Security

In this day and age, headlines like these are common:

 

• "Meet the new ransomware that knows where you live"

• "Spear-phishing campaign exploiting Windows zero-day vulnerability hits retail, hospitality industries"

• "Cyber Attacks on Small Businesses on the Rise"

 

As these headlines attest, ransomware, phishing, and other types of cyberattacks are increasing in number and sophistication. To avoid becoming a victim, you must take measures to protect your company, even if it is small. No business is too small to go unnoticed by cybercriminals. The fact is that cybercriminals like to attack small companies because those businesses often do not have the expertise or resources to fend them off.

 

You probably are running anti-malware software already in your business, realizing the essential role it plays in detecting and blocking known ransomware, viruses, and other types of malware. However, that is only one of several measures you need to take to protect your company against cyberattacks. Other important measures include reducing known security vulnerabilities, educating your employees, and preparing for the worst-case scenario.

 

Reducing Security Vulnerabilities

You can make it much harder for cybercriminals to attack your IT systems by addressing vulnerabilities that cybercriminals tend to exploit. Here are a few starting points:

 

Update Your Software Regularly

Cybercriminals like to target operating system software and applications that have known security vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities provide a crack that cybercriminals can slip through in order to access your computer systems and install malicious code. Updating your software regularly with newly released patches eliminates known vulnerabilities, thereby reducing the number of exploitable entry points into your computer systems.

 

Update Your Firmware

Computers, printers, routers, and other hardware devices include firmware, which is software that gives a device its functionality. Just like software, firmware can have vulnerabilities that cybercriminals exploit. So, it is important to patch your devices' firmware whenever the device manufacturers release an update.

 

Upgrade Your Software When Necessary

At some point in time, software vendors stop supporting older operating system software and applications. This means that they do not provide any security updates. Cybercriminals keep track of when versions of popular applications reach their end of support. When that day arrives, cybercriminals intentionally launch new attacks that target the unsupported software. Sometimes, they stockpile malware until the end-of-support date and then set it loose. As a result, your business is much more vulnerable to cyberattacks if you are running software that is no longer supported by the vendor.

 

Our team can conduct a vulnerability analysis to identify security issues that are leaving your business susceptible to cyberattacks. Once identified, we can work with you to address those vulnerabilities and reduce your risk.

 

 

Protect Your Business

Cybercriminals are constantly releasing new malware programs or variants of existing ones. As a result, relying solely on anti-malware software to protect your business is risky, as it takes a while for the vendors to update their anti-malware software to defend against the new programs and new strains.

 

After conducting an in-depth security assessment, our security experts can recommend other measures you can take to protect your business from cybercriminals. We can also help train your employees so that they can spot cyberattacks rather than fall victim to them.

 

Contact us today to make sure your company has the proper safeguards in place. Waiting until tomorrow might prove to be too late.

 

Schedule a call with our team now.