Want to know what every hacker hopes you believe? “We’re small…nobody wants to hack us.” This is the #1 reason why people (companies) get hacked. They dismiss the importance of IT security because they’re only a “small business.” This is a lazy, irresponsible excuse.

One thing is for certain: NO ONE is immune to cybercrime. In fact, one in five small businesses fall victim to cybercrime and that number grows every year. Plus, half of all cyber-attacks are aimed at small businesses BECAUSE they make themselves low-hanging fruit with sloppy or nonexistent security protocols.

And one more critical point to ponder: If YOU aren’t giving IT security the attention it deserves, how do you think your CLIENTS would feel about that? If for no other reason, you need to do it to protect your clients’ data, even if the only information about them you store is an e-mail address. If YOUR system gets compromised, hackers will now have access to your CLIENTS’ e-mail and can use that for phishing scams and virus-laden spam. I’m sure your clients want you to be a good steward of their information and privacy, so stop lying to yourself and get serious about putting essential security practices in place.

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Show Notes:
If you’ve ever said this, you’re ASKING to get hacked!

“We’re small nobody is going to hack us” 

“Nobody cares about us or our data”

“We’re not big enough to be hacked” 

 

THIS is the #1 reason companies get hacked. Not because they’re small, but because they use that as an excuse, thinking you’re too small to get hacked. It’s stupid and irresponsible and you’re asking for trouble.  

 

Thinking you’re “too small to get hacked” is stupid. 

 

1.     The low hanging fruit 

2.     Great big names

 

It’s way easier to get the low hanging fruit, because if you’re the company that says “we don’t need that”

 

 

The last time one of our clients got hacked was over a DECADE ago, and that is when we changed our security ways. We are living proof that if you put security measures in place you can mitigate the risks, at a minimum you can mitigate the risks.

   

No one is immune from cybercrime…

·      1 in 5 small businesses fall victim to cybercrime every year

·      ½ of all cyber-attacks are aimed at small businesses BECAUSE they make themselves low-hanging fruit. 

·      Non-existing security protocols

·      You don’t have policies in place

·      The whole culture is backwards, generally it starts at the top. Meaning if you, as a business owner, don’t care about cybersecurity, then I guarantee your employees don’t care. Another thing to consider you get hacked, now you are responsible for all of your clients’ data

 

 

What’s Irresponsible: Irresponsible is to not have information about whether your stuff is being monitored and maintained. 

 

Somebody needs to know what kind of firewall you have so when something bad comes up you can go patch that firewall.

 

Whoever is responsible for security for this company should know this information. I’m looking from a business owner’s perspective. The owner of the company may not know what hardware he has in the IT closet, but better know the name of the person who is monitoring it, patching it, and making sure that guy is doing his job.

 

Coming up next week: Wait until you hear the story about what this sectary did….