Cyber Attacks: Would Your Business Survive?

You’ve probably seen in the news the recent cyber attack on a major hospital and car company. What you probably haven’t seen is the financial impact this has on the company and what is being done in the background to get them back up and running.

Majority of these attacks are from emails sent to staff that contain links to download files. These downloads then encrypt all the data and ask for money to release them back. In most cases, the easiest and quickest way to get everything back is to restore from backup.

They’re not always easy to spot as the hackers are becoming more and more sophisticated in the emails they’re sending through with many of them specifically targeted based on details they’ve been able to acquire, like the type of email system you use, the electricity company or if you’ve recently made a purchase and waiting on delivery.

5 Tips to Protect Your Business From Cyber Attacks:

Two-Factor Authentication

• On your email system make sure you have a business-grade email system like Office 365 or G-Suite and have it protected so that only authorised devices can access emails.
• If you do need to access email from non-authorised devices or from your webmail you need to have a code sent to your mobile to be able to login.

Advanced SPAM & Email Filtering

• While having a business-grade email system is good, they still need a little extra help when it comes to protecting your business from SPAM, Phishing, Virus and Fraudulent emails.
• Having an advanced email protection system set up that scans and filters all emails coming through before they hit your in-box is a must, this will rule out the majority of the really bad emails being sent, but it’s not always 100% so you still need to be aware.

Cloud-Based File System

• Having a business-grade cloud-based file system like Dropbox Business means that in the event someone in your business clicks on one of these ransomware viruses and encrypts all the files asking for a ransom, instead of paying the ransom, we can simply roll back the entire system to the way it was before, saving time and money.
• Obviously prevention is better than cure, however in the event of something getting through and going wrong, having the ability to quickly recover from a disaster can mean the life or death of a business.

More Than Just Antivirus

• Having an antivirus is one thing, but when it comes to business your computers need an entire security protection system, one that makes sure viruses can’t be activated, but also one that blocks websites from links that are to malicious sites. If you’re serious about preventing malware, spyware and ransomware, and entire endpoint protection system are necessary so that all your bases are covered.

Education

• These fake emails do their best to look legitimate, they make sure they have the providers logo that they’re trying to imitate, the layout and the cost and links to the site. However, what a lot of them miss is the email address they’re coming from or some of the language in the email.
• If the email looks suspicious, or the email address is strange it’s always best to err on the side of caution and delete it or contact the company it’s coming from to confirm it’s legitimacy, a few minutes out of your time to check can save hours or days in recovery.

There are so many ways that technology can protect us as we’re all busy, so if you’re concerned about being hacked, concerned about losing data or having your passwords stolen we’re happy to talk more about protecting your data and your business.

Looking for the Right IT solutions?