Cyber security issues in 2020 reached historical highs. With crime being completely out of control our phones were ringing off the hook. With this rapid rise in crime the hackers preyed on everyone’s vulnerabilities by targeting things like COVID-19, voting/elections, Russian interference and more fake pandemic scams that tried to get people’s social security numbers and bank information.
Now time for some scary statistics.
A 400% COVID-19 scams in March madeit the largest security threat ever. 47% of all remote workers fell victim to phishing scams. 81% cyber security professionals reported job functions changed due to pandemic. 76% I.T. professionals say remote work increased time to contain a breach. Your I.T. department had to help out your employees setting up their home offices instead of watching your network. Plus, most of the high level management wanted to get everyone back to work more than protecting their systems. 43% of all breaches are web app. related. (That statistic is from 2019 so that percentage has gone up significantly) 1,767 fake COVID-19 domains created each day Normal people have to go through so many fake sites in order to get their real vaccine information. The mean dwell time (time between compromise and detection) was a global average of 146 days.
How to protect yourself
Change your password, make it long, do phrases instead of one word and get a patch for desktop and other devices.
How to protect your business
Make sure you test both inside your network and the perimeter(firewall). If you are vulnerable and someone gets inside you will lose important data. You really need to have a human being watch your server (I.T. department). You should also have a third party come in and test your network, sometimes once they get past the fire wall they can access all of your information. The hacker can create fake accounts to get more information and money from your clients. Lastly, just because you are a small business does not mean you are safe from hackers. Any place that produces money is a target so protect yourself.
Cyber insurance
If you get hacked, your business is done for a month if not longer.Even if you do pull through you will lose customers and vendors over it. So, you need to test and do your diligence. It will give you peace of mind. Going through an incident is painful so don’t become a victim. You need to get tested every year.
