Your company's Cyber Security in 2020

When many small to medium-sized businesses hear the phrase “cyber security,” they often do one of two things; lose interest, or assume it doesn’t apply to them. This, however, couldn’t be further from the truth – every company’s cyber security is integral to their success – both in terms of financial stability, and customer satisfaction and brand trust.

There’s no denying the role of digital spaces in the growth of any businesses’ brand – whether that business is a small pop-up, or a multi-national conglomerate. Customers find, engage with, review, and spread the word of brands in this digital space – and even for brick-and-mortar stores, the digital realm is the backbone of the business’s behind-the-scenes systems. Due to this reliance on the ever-evolving digital space we all work through, hackers have set their sights on exploiting the vulnerabilities of the networks and systems of small to medium-sized businesses.

Why is this? Before we delve any further into the dark and dangerous world of cybercrime, we need to look back, into the history of the growth of what are referred to as “enterprise environments.”

Enterprise systems typically describe the large, comprehensive systems that make up a company’s over-arching computer network – more accurately, this encompasses the physical infrastructure (servers, printers, scanners, routers, computers, and credit card readers), end-user systems (software such as Microsoft Word, your Point-of-Sale system, and your internet browser), and finally, the software and hardware that provides your system’s security framework (think firewalls, ID scanners, and chip readers).

Large and multi-national corporations found that as their tech infrastructure grew, so too did their system’s vulnerability – this is because as a system grows, so too does its points of failure. In short, for every piece of tech that is part of your company’s network, there is a new avenue for a hacker to exploit. As large companies’ enterprise systems shored up their tech ecosystems, cyber criminals turned their attention towards small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs for short). Often, SMBs have a large client or customer base, which is almost always stored somewhere on your company’s network: credit card information, phone numbers, and other forms of personal identifying information, for example.

Hackers are skilled at sneaking into your business’s system through the vulnerabilities mentioned above; this can be as simple as an un-secured printer connected to a network, as intricate as intercepting encrypted data going through two-factor authentication, or as unsuspected as phishing for information through email.

The risks don’t end there, unfortunately. If you or another employee’s mobile device or smartphone connects to an un-secured network while at home, and then connects to your company’s network through its wi-fi, hackers can “trojan-horse” their way into your system. Even something as simple as using the same account of Google Chrome at home and at work can lead to a security risk if the home’s network isn’t fully secure.

Knowing is half the battle – the other is having a partner who has the experience to identify these risks, and the ability to deploy an enterprise system for your network that both fits your business’s needs, all while remaining robust and secure. At Cobb Technologies, we’re more than happy to help your business secure and define its digital systems.