It’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month! Educate Yourself on These Threats

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month! To prepare for this incredibly important month, you’ll want to focus your efforts on ensuring your business is protected against the myriad of online threats that can pose a danger for your business. Thankfully, you don’t have to do it alone. With our trusted IT professionals by your side, you’ll be able to take the fight to hackers and other entities that threaten your data.

The Many Threats of the Internet
The Internet is a dangerous place. Your business should watch out for the following threats, which can manifest themselves in different forms:

• Viruses: Viruses are little pieces of code that are designed to perform various things. These can range from bothersome and annoying to genuinely threatening, depending on the intention of the spreader.
• Malware: Malicious software that can perform various functions. Two of the most dangerous are designed to help hackers steal data or lock it down entirely.
  • Ransomware: The notorious ransomware locks down your data and demands a ransom paid in cryptocurrency in exchange for the decryption key.
  • Spyware: Hackers who want to steal your business’s data, or spy on your every move, will use a covert type of malware called spyware to do so. One type of spyware is called a keylogger, which can be used to collect passwords and usernames for your business’s accounts.
• Trojan Horses: Trojan horses are threats that create backdoors on your network, allowing hackers to access your network at a later, more convenient date.
• Distributed Denial of Service: While not necessarily a specific threat, you still need to be wary of DDoS attacks. If your organization is targeted by a DDoS attack, your servers will be viciously assaulted by a network of infected bots until it’s beaten into submission, suffering from downtime.
• Phishing Email: An email message designed to fool users into clicking on infected links or downloading suspicious documents.

What Can You Do?
The best way to protect your business from online threats is to take a duel-facet approach to network security. First and foremost is your network’s on-site security solution. A Unified Threat Management tool is a network-attached security device that combines the best of proactive solutions into one easily accessible package. You’ll have access to an enterprise-level firewall, antivirus, spam blocker, and content filter--all of which designed to prevent hacks in the first place, and quickly detect and resolve those that can’t be prevented. It’s the best way to handle network security.

Educating your employees is equally as important, as prompt cybersecurity training can keep your organization from suffering from unnecessary data breaches due to uninformed workers. For example, an employee who knows how to identify a phishing link in an email knows not to click on it, which can save you the trouble of removing ransomware or other threats that have downloaded onto your network. The same can be said about strong passwords. Emphasize the importance of strong passwords for their accounts so that you don’t have to worry about a hacker guessing your business’s credentials.

Are you concerned that your business lacks cybersecurity awareness? If so, reach out to us at (509) 534-1530. Our trusted technicians will work with you and your employees to make sure everyone is on the same page regarding network security.