Why you should make cybersecurity a priority in your organization?

An alarming number of attacks made business owners and entrepreneurs more conscious of data protection issues. Even the largest global brands have lost their credibility, trust, and huge amounts of money, falling victim to attacks by cybercriminals who found vulnerabilities in their systems and took advantage of the carelessness and naivety of employees. Here are the most common threats your organization may face.

Keep ransomware at bay

For starters, 2021 was a record-breaking year for cybersecurity. Nearly 495.1 million ransomware attacks were attempted globally, which on the other hand, resulted in remarkably high expenses for enterprises and organizations. Ransomware attacks are also becoming more frequent than ever before! Statistically, there are nearly 20 ransomware attempts every second. That’s why prevention, and rapid detection are crucial for providing protection to any organization. Keeping ransomware at bay is no longer an option, it is a critical necessity for each organization.

Malicious Office and PDF files

Hiding malware in files is one of the forms of phishing. In 2021, the use of malicious Office files fell by 64%, while malicious PDFs rose 52%. Interestingly, Excel spreadsheets constitute the overwhelming majority of malicious Office files and it is .xlsm extension that is the most common one.

Microsoft Office files are very popular among cybercriminals and are particularly exposed to infections commonly known as macro viruses. What is really troublesome is the fact that the virus is capable of accessing your email account and forwarding the infected attachment to all you network of contacts. Your contacts probably will easily get tricked into opening it, seeing that it is you who is the sender. In order to encourage the recipient into opening a malicious file, the file is often disguised as something enticing or urgent: a tempting offer, an invoice, a work-related document, a git card of a well-known brand, a contract, or a tax notification, and so on. Everything just to boost its legitimacy.

Zero-day vulnerabilities on the rise

Undoubtedly, zero-days are one of the most striking topics in cybersecurity of the recent time. Fairly they are often called the crown jewels of hacking due to their infalliable capability to bypass traditional security measures.

The name “zero-day” stems from the fact that once a hacker detects the vulnerability in software, the software vendor basically has “zero time” to fix it before it’s exploited. And once the developer finds out a flaw, they must develop an update??— known as a “patch” — in order to fix it. Because of that, systems are exposed until a patch is released by the vendor. Unfortunately patches often come too late. It happens that it may take months for anybody to notice such attacks. Then, it can take weeks or even months for developers to develop a security patch. That makes zero-day vulnerabilities so dangerous.

A zero-day attack can exploit vulnerabilities in a variety of systems, such as: operating systems, web browsers, office applications, open-source components, hardware and firmware, IoT, etc. The most targeted are usually corporations and government, but nearly everyone may fall victim of a zero-day attack. A lot depends on how one behaves online and the companies they trust to process their data.

Safeguard your business against a data breach

Statistically, a data breach can cost a company an average of $4.24 million and this number is increasing year over year. Unsurprisingly, these costs are higher for companies that didn’t invest in security. Among the popular targets - Healthcare, Financial, and Pharmaceuticals are the industries that are affected the most. However, a loss of money is not everything.

There are several other ways a data breach can affect a company. The financial impact is the most severe to small and mid-size companies and oftentimes may lead to their bankruptcy. One single attack may cost millions of dollars, at the same time, causing damage to brand reputation since exposing your customers' data can result in losing their trust, especially when your organization fails to take suitable precautions. Legal ramifications are also acute. While running a business, you are responsible for your customer's data, and that means, that if you’re breached, you may face fines or some other legal penalties, and potentially be taken to the court.

You can’t protect what you are not even aware that you have

From the network security perspective, you can’t protect what you are not even aware that you have. It increases the risk of not knowing what is in fact connected to your network, thus, making it exposed to vulnerabilities. From servers and routers, through computers and printers, to the smallest devices, and even documents and licenses - the world of IT assets is immense and includes crucial elements of any organization. Therefore, being able to track and audit your inventory is the principal requirement for the majority of security standards. Whether it is an outdated system or software, devices used outside the company, or some removable media, you should be able to easily identify them.

Handling an IT asset inventory may oftentimes appear to be a time-consuming and labor-intensive activity. The good news is that you don’t have to do that manually - with many Asset Inventory Management Software out there on the market, you can go for one that offers the features that meet your organization's specific requirements.