It’s #SaferInternetDay and we know the job market is currently desperate for cyber security experts. People with skills in the field can go into positions that earn more than $100,000 a year without any prior work experience. The reason for these high wages is the fact that businesses are under so much threat from cyber attacks. They literally cannot find security experts as fast as they need them and it’s pushing the price up to unheard of levels.
Given the statistics, none of this should come as a surprise. Every day more that 230,000 new malware samples are generated and spread online. And, the cost of dealing with cybercrime is increasing every year, especially in the US. Businesses, celebrities, and government are all targets.
If you run your own small business, you should be concerned about what these developments mean. Here are some of the alarming facts about the unprecedented threat your business data faces.
What Is The Most Expensive Computer Virus Of All Time?
To give you an example of how expensive a virus can be, consider the MyDoom virus that hit finance companies back in 2004. MyDoom was a virus spread by email, and it soon became the fastest spreading virus in the world. It was believed to have been first generated in Russia, but the author of the virus was never found.
MyDoom was disguised as a spam email, but with a difference. When the email was opened, it would automatically send itself to all the recipients in the user’s inbox, spreading rapidly. The email did two things once it reached a person’s computer. First, it opened up a backdoor access, meaning that the computer could be controlled remotely. And second, it did what is called a denial-of-service attack against a banking company’s website, meaning that it was effectively shut down. In total, it is estimated that the virus cost more than $38 billion of damage and lost productivity, making it the most expensive computer virus of all time.
Social Media
If you think that your business is safe on social media, then think again. Social media has long been a major challenge for enterprise security.
Statistics currently suggest that there are more than 1.6 billion social network users worldwide. More than 64 percent of all people with access to the internet are believed to interact with social media every month. For this reason, social media is a prime target for hackers. Why? Because users reveal a lot about themselves when they are on social media, allowing hackers to take advantage.
One thing that affects mompreneurs is phishing. This is where another person on social media will attempt to get you to reveal your account number and password as well as your credit card details. Usually, these phishing attempts appear perfectly normal. In fact, they are often disguised as coming from Facebook or Twitter themselves to make them seem genuine and fool you into handing over information.
Some companies can also be targeted by what is called “social spam.” This is where a malicious hacker will pose as your business, spamming people with messages you’d rather they didn’t see. This can take the form of writing abuse, profanity and inserting malicious links.
99 Percent Of Business Computers Vulnerable To Exploits
If your company uses Java, Oracle or Adobe Reader, then it’s potentially at risk of suffering an exploit. According to experts, 99 percent of computers with these programs are vulnerable. Often all it takes is a single click and hackers can gain access to your systems.
The problem with these software packages is that many of them still contain bugs and security weaknesses. The majority of criminals target these programs because they know that they have a higher chance of breaking into your computer if they do.
They are now using exploit service kits-as-a-service to do just that, automating the process of trying to hack in and find vulnerabilities. If businesses don’t protect their browsers adequately, they risk leaving themselves completely open to cyber attacks.
Inside Jobs
According to the data, more than 59 percent of employees steal proprietary data before they leave a company or they are fired. This represents a significant risk to businesses who want to protect their data and keep their advantage over their competitors.
It should be pointed out that malicious insiders are infrequent. These are people who, for whatever reason, don’t like you or your company and want to cause it harm. Malicious insiders who have administrator privileges can be especially dangerous.
Most problems, however, simply arise from the carelessness of employees when they accidentally delete or modify sensitive data.
The question remains, how will you protect yourself today?
Milo Senalle
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