What makes a business a target?

Cybercriminals are scanning for targets across every industry and every size of business. Let’s explore who they’re targeting and, more importantly, how to keep your organization off their radar.

Industries Commonly Targeted by Cybercriminals:

Government and Public Services: Hackers want access to classified information or aim to slow down or cut off government services.
Healthcare: Cybercriminals steal patient data or extort healthcare providers for large ransoms.
Finance: Financial businesses have access to high-value data.
Agriculture: Criminal groups looking to disrupt the food supply target the ag industry. Additionally, industries’ busy seasons create a sense of urgency.

Cyber fact: the number one category for attacks is actually small-to-medium size businesses of any kind, making up 43% of all events, according to a recent report by the SBA. Only 14% of small businesses are adequately secured.

More important than industry: these three common things contribute majorly to cyberattack risk.

Unsupported Legacy Hardware and Software:
Updates are key to keeping your business secure. Legacy systems have vulnerabilities that can be exploited by cybercriminals.

Security Un-Awareness:
Between 88 and 95% (depending on your source) of cyber attacks are caused by human error. The solution? Training your team to spot phishing attempts and creating a culture of good security practices. Security awareness training has been proven to reduce your risk.

Compromised Credentials:
Using the same password/email combo for multiple websites means if one site is hacked, others likely will be, too. Use unique passwords for each website and enable multi-factor authentication where possible.

Need some tech advice?

The Facet team is here to help with custom IT solutions. Call us or schedule a discovery call to see what your options are for managed services and cybersecurity. Schedule a call by clicking here.