Want to hear something scary?

Hackers could probably access your systems if they really wanted to. They’d steal all of your customer information and release employee data. Hackers can make your company violate every data protection regulation, which would result in the total collapse of your business.

But don’t worry, it still takes a lot of effort and you probably aren’t important enough to warrant that much work. After all, if a cyber criminal isn’t gaining anything from breaking into your systems, why would they waste their time? You have to be worth the effort for someone to spend time, effort and their resources to break into your computers.

But what if you were leaving the door open all this time? What if you were unwillingly writing them an invitation to come and grab your data? If it’s a free opportunity like that, then they’d be foolish not to take you up on that offer.

Now, you may think your company is too small or insignificant to be hacked. This is not the case. Even if you employ remote-only staff, your Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) need to include a formal Bring Your Own Device Policy that includes data protection. It can happen to any business, including yours and mine!

The Truth About Cybersecurity and Why You Need to Pay Attention

Cracking passwords is only used in extreme cases – hackers gain access with other methods.

Cracking is one of the most common depictions of cyber crime that we see in popular culture. It’s usually shown as a small device that plugs into a computer that displays a series of numbers and letters that rapidly switch, eventually locking themselves into the “password”. This is a real method of obtaining someone’s password. However, there are countless different defenses that guard you against this possibility.

For instance, have you ever tried to log into an account for a service, but entered your password wrong several times? Then you get a warning and it prevents you from trying again. This usually prevents all methods of cracking. Yet, even without that warning, the chances of actually cracking a password are extremely slim. It would take forever due to the number of combinations it would need to go through.

Websites like How Secure is My Password will actually show you how long it would take for a computer to crack your password. Seemingly random passwords such as “34r5tefdaw” would take just a day to crack, whereas something long but simply like “passwordpassword” would actually take a computer 35,000 years to crack!

Working with cyber security services is incredibly important.

Working with a third party company to protect your business is an absolute must. You need to be careful about network intrusion detection, the software you use and many other factors to ensure that you are completely protected. However, simply working with a cyber security service usually isn’t enough due to the methods that cyber criminals use to break into your network.

Social engineering is more of an issue than hacking

What most people don’t realize is that passwords are rarely obtained through cracking. Instead, they’re usually handed to hackers through social engineering. For example, a hacker might pretend to be a legitimate service and ask your employees for a password. The email could appear to come from an internal source, so they’ll believe it and unwillingly give their password away.

It’s situations like this that lead to a network being compromised. That’s why it’s important to educate anyone who works for your business on social engineering and cyber security in general, instead of simply focusing on cyber security services. You want to do all you can to protect your company data, no matter the size of the business.

Ciao,
Miss Kemya