When cyber crime hits the headlines, most often the story centers around an attack on a large corporate entity. Recent examples include Sony, Neiman Marcus, and many others.
But the reality of cyber crime is that many cyber criminals focus their attacks on small business. This is reasonable from a hacker’s perspective, as small businesses often fail to take the step of investing a substantial amount of resources into cyber security.
Why is this the case? Many business owners mistakenly believe that their smaller companies will be a boring target for hackers. This is a costly mistake for some, as companies with fewer than 250 employees accounted for 30 percent of all cyber attacks in 2013, according to figures recently released by Symantec in its annual internet security threat report.
The report states:
“While it can be argued that the rewards of attacking a small business are less than what can be gained from a large enterprise, this is more than compensated by the fact that many small companies are typically less careful in their cyber defenses.”
source: Blue Coat Systems, Inc
To be competitive in the marketplace today, small businesses have to use the internet, mobile devices, and social media to promote goods and services. And while these things are marvelous tools, their use does pose considerable risk for business owners, employees and clients.
As business and client safety is a chief concern, it is essential to have an experienced IT team to handle the threat efficiently. As hackers constantly improve the sophistication of their attacks, an IT team must be vigilant in meeting the challenges presented. In-house IT support may prove more costly than necessary to achieve a positive result. An attractive alternative is outsourcing small business IT support.
When a business owner takes advantage of such a service, experienced IT technicians monitor all aspects of the enterprise. This frees owners and staff to focus on income-producing elements of the business. This is an optimal solution for the small business community, as an agile and informed IT support company can work to protect both companies and clients from cyber crime.
For more information about preventing your company from being a victim of cyber crime, please contact us today. We will work with you to find the level of security needed for your business right away.