What Business Owners Can Do To Prevent Cybercrime
By Ranggi R.
Published on January 12th, 2023
As business owners, you must understand that all the assets you have are very important. One of them is data, ranging from financial reports to employee databases. You should be able to maintain it properly and protect it from any potential cybercrime.
What Is Cybercrime?
Cybercrime is any unlawful act carried out through computer networks and the internet to gain profit at the expense of other parties.
It is not surprising that the presence of the digital world provides space for criminals to commit crimes. Individuals or groups involved in criminal activities on the internet using digital devices are called cybercriminals.
Cybercriminals use different levels and types of threats. Here are the types of Cyber Crime that occur most often and you need to know:
1) Malware attacks
A malware attack is where a computer system or network is infected with a computer virus or other type of malware. A computer compromised by malware could be used by cybercriminals for several purposes, such as gaining personal information, stealing confidential data, or causing damage to data.
2) Phishing
Phishing is when malicious emails are sent to other people with the intention of tricking recipients into doing something that undermines their security or tricks people into falling for a scam. Phishing campaign messages may contain infected attachments or links to malicious sites, or they may ask the receiver to respond with confidential information, such as financial reports, system credentials, or other sensitive data.
3) Distributed DoS attacks
Distributed Dos attacks (DDoS) are a type of cybercrime attack that is used by cybercriminals to disrupt normal traffic by bringing down a system or network.
Cybercriminals Attack Anyone
Cyberattacks can happen to anyone at any time. Corporations, Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), retailers and other types of entities can be targeted by cybercriminals to operate, aiming to steal sensitive information and gain other benefits.
Cybercrime has become a major threat to internet users by stealing millions of information from users in recent years. It also caused a huge hit in the global economy. According to Gartner, global demand for Cyber Security is expected to reach $170.4 billion by 2022. 95% of Cyber Security breaches occur due to human error, according to Cybint.
The implication is that anyone can become a victim of cybercrime, which also harms businesses and individuals. There will be mistrust of providers or organizations. But, the question is, how do we prevent cybercrimes?
Preventing Cybercrime In Companies
You may be wondering how to stop cybercrimes? Here are some tips to protect your business from cybercrime:
1) Rely On Trustworthy Cloud Storage
The safest way to store your data is to move it to cloud storage, but are we really sure that our information will be safe
Make sure the cloud storage provider allows you to back up, encrypt, recover, restrict the right access, and enable 2FA. With these features, your data will be automatically protected and prevented from a data breach.
2) Give Your Data Extra Layers
Undeniably, you should add more layers to your stored data for better data privacy. Therefore, facilitate yourself with encryption. Encryption is a way of protecting data by making it unreadable. When you encrypt your data, only you and authorized people can access it.
With encryption, you can also share your data securely, as it requires a password and the recipient must enter it for the data to be accessible. As a business owner, you need to know how cloud storage keeps your data.
3) Remember to Protect Your Account, Too!
We tend to focus on how to store data, so sometimes we forget that email accounts also need to be protected. You cannot secure your data if you do not protect your account first. Implementing Two Factor Authentication (2FA) is highly recommended when it comes to account security.
4) Create A Strong Password
Creating a unique and difficult password can prevent thieves from breaking in and stealing your information. As a business owner, you need to educate your employees to use capital letters, special characters, and complex numbers to create passwords. It can be stressful to try, but it’s so worth it.
5) Limit Access To Data
Sometimes, human error is unavoidable. Without knowing it, you could click on malicious links or send them to unwanted people. But as a business owner, you can prevent this by assigning limited people to handle data. There will be no reason for unwanted employees to view or access confidential information.
Build Trust with Customers
Now you know the importance of data protection and why cloud storage is the best way to store files. Time to get started now that you know what to do and where to start! Choose the best IT service provider to become your trusted partner and build consumer trust.