Today we use compact phones; instead of bulky computers to stay online, we use the internet to search and record everything, literally. But it comes with its own pitfalls and shortcomings. Did you know that anyone can enter into your laptop and steal all your data? Probably, yes, because cybercrime is the most highly rated offense of the contemporary era. This is because almost all organizations and everyone in the modern world use the internet to keep their data online.
You’ll be surprised to know that in 2018, there were nearly 81,000 cyberattacks per day and more than 32 million attacks per year in the USA. That’s indeed a huge number. So, as an entrepreneur, it’s your job to make sure that you or your business isn’t on the list of cyberattacks. And that can happen if you are already prepared in advance.
For this, you need to keep track of the ways how those nasty hackers can harm you or your organization. In other words, this article will help you to stay one step ahead of those internet burglars.
Let’s begin!
-
By breaching your firewall
If you think you can outsmart those hackers by creating a network firewall, we are extremely sorry to shatter that illusion. First of all, a network firewall’s job is to provide security to computer hardware or software. It helps in shielding the network against unauthorized access and filters traffic by blocking unwanted users. Secondly, a weak firewall contains some loopholes that can be breached easily. This means that the hackers can get through it easily and access the private data on the organization’s computers.
To eliminate this online threat, you need to ask your engineer to build the strongest firewall possible to monitor the incoming and outgoing network closely with traffic with some extra security rules.
Fun Fact: For 25 years, firewalls are considered the first line of defense against those deadly cybercrimes. So, you wouldn’t want to mess up with that equation by ignoring your organization’s own.
-
By misusing your financial details
Imagine this; someone is spending your hard-earned money without your consent. Isn’t that every entrepreneur’s worst nightmare?
As a business owner, it is your duty to keep track of the cash flow of the business. You need to monitor every expenditure for future planning.
Since the inception of cryptocurrency or virtual currency in the world, no business owner can risk getting hacked. According to recent government reports, cryptocurrency hacking is one of the huge crimes taking place in the US at the moment.
This is because it contains highly sensitive data that can’t be compromised at any cost. Although there are strict laws against financial and cybercrime, banks and financial institutions are targeted the most by such criminals.
The stolen IP, credit card details, online fraud, and financial manipulation of the company will definitely boost the crime rate and affect the financial status of any organization. This unethical act is termed “identity theft,” where the hackers try to break into other accounts and steal identities for their personal gains.
For this, you need to keep everything password-protected and ask your accountants not to share the company’s confidential and financial information with anyone else.
-
By spying on your business’s operations
Have you ever heard the phrase, “The contents of a person’s letters are much more valuable and important than that of his purse?” Yes, that’s really true. By simply breaching your email, hackers can steal the data and information about your organization’s operations and sell it to your competitor for profit.
According to the experts, the most common type of corporate hacking involves stealing confidential patents, future plans, contracts, and even legal notes. Basically, it includes everything that can give an edge to your competitors. In other words, with the help of the stolen data and information, your competitors can easily track your operations and use them against you and your company. It is undoubtedly an illegal offense, and all entrepreneurs must make efforts to avoid it.
But how? For example, suppose you want to protect yourself and your company from email breeches. This type of hacking is known as phishing.
According to certain technical experts, email breach tends to attract more hackers because it consists of almost all your online, and confidential details. It might include your bank details and future organizational plans. And as a business owner, you should try everything in your power to make sure that doesn’t happen with your company. For this, you can strengthen your passwords or talk to your tech guy to build a strong defense against phishing.
-
By using your resources to their benefit
Sometimes the goal of the hackers is to use your organization’s resources for their own benefit. For example, they might steal the data and hold it for ransom. This type of crime is known as ransomware. It also ranks on the top of the cyber attacks and tends to grow every year since 2017.
Their only plan is to execute such attacks by illegally breaking into your computers or network and charging a ransom to restore your access to it. And that is really frustrating. It keeps you locked out of your own account or data, and you have to pay a heavy price for it.
If you want to prevent it, you need to make sure that all the data and access are restricted by strong and concrete passwords. Also, frequent backups can really come in handy at the time of a serious emergency. Plus, the backed-up data on different servers can’t allow the hackers to breach which gives you full control over the accounts.
Wrapping Up!
No matter how much you try to build a strong defense, those internet burglars can find loopholes to breach your firewall. The least you can do is to think ahead and make necessary changes in your defense plan.
Additionally, it would be best if you also spread awareness about it amongst your employees so that they know how to manage their data and network at the ground level.
So, what are you waiting for? Think like the criminals, and you’ll never face any crime!