Cybersecurity threats are constantly evolving; the persistent evolution of these threats are leaving Canadian businesses vulnerable. In 2022, CFIB found that 45% of small businesses experienced a random cyberattack and that 27% were the victims of a targeted attack.
Those numbers are staggering; they imply that, for small businesses, being the victim of a cyberattack is more likely than not. You need to protect your business. Here’s how.
Navigating The Ever-Evolving Cybersecurity Landscape
To navigate the ever-changing landscape of cybersecurity, it’s essential for small and medium-sized businesses to:
The team at Constant C is constantly striving to keep businesses protected from cyber security incidents. To get you on the right path, let’s begin by analyzing the most common cybersecurity threats in 2024.
Top Cybersecurity Threats Businesses Face Today
Distributed Denial Of Service (DDoS) Attacks
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks use a flood of automated network traffic to prevent legitimate users from accessing a website. These attacks are common because they’re relatively easy to conduct. Fortunately, high-quality hosting services typically have systems in place to detect and prevent abnormal traffic from flooding your website.
Phishing Scams
Phishing attacks are another common threat thanks to their simplicity and effectiveness. In a phishing attack, cybercriminals send emails in an attempt to get credentials from their victims, like usernames and passwords. These attacks have become more effective thanks to large language models (LLMs) that can help attackers craft more convincing emails.
SQL Injection Attacks
SQL is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world; it’s used on virtually any website that maintains a database. Databases using SQL can have valuable information like usernames, email addresses, and even passwords. SQL injection attacks trick databases into giving information by injecting queries into fields on things like forms.
Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) Attacks
In a man-in-the-middle attack, hackers gain access to valuable information by placing themselves between a device sending information and a device receiving that information. This allows the attacker to “listen in” on a conversation between two devices without the victims detecting the attacker’s presence.
Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)
APTs are typically conducted by state-sponsored groups or other sophisticated groups. These groups gain access to a network, monitoring and modifying the network while remaining undetected. These threats are:
Protecting Your Business From Cyber Threats
Implementing Strong Access Controls
One of the most effective ways to protect yourself from cyber security risks is to control who can access what parts of your network. You can do this by implementing multi-factor authentication, limiting access to users so they can only reach the parts of the network that are relevant to their jobs, and tightly restricting access to sensitive information.
Using other techniques to limit network access is especially important when you have remote staff. By installing private VPNs on mobile devices, you can lower the risk of cyber threats targeting your network remotely.
Keeping Software & Systems Updated
Keeping software and systems up to date is one of the simplest security practices to implement—and it’s well worth it. The challenge with updating software and systems is not one of technical complexity—rather, it’s one of scope and timing. Think about how many WordPress or Chrome plug-ins you might have or how many other pieces of software you use. You need to keep them all up to date and you need to update them at times that aren’t critical for your business. The process takes careful monitoring and scheduling.
Conducting Cybersecurity Awareness Training
Weak passwords, using the same password for all of your logins, and falling for phishing attacks are all major security risks that can be dramatically reduced through the use of cybersecurity awareness training. By training your staff to detect threats well in advance and to protect themselves from threats, you can dramatically reduce the chances that cybersecurity threats gain access to your network.
Backing Up Data Regularly
Having a data backup plan is one of the most essential parts of cybersecurity; it’s essential to backup data so that, in the event you do get hacked, you’ll still have access to vital business data.
Developing An Incident Response Plan
What will you do if there’s a data breach? How will you get hackers off of your network? If you’re the victim of a ransomware attack, will you pay the cybercriminals what they’re asking, or will you take another approach?
These, and many other questions, can be answered by developing an incident response plan. We highly recommend working with IT security professionals to develop a plan for the worst-case scenarios.
Stay Vigilant, Stay Secure
For modern businesses, implementing network security strategies is essential. The team at Constant C can help you protect your network; we serve Winnipeg and all of Western Canada. Call us for a free consultation today.
