Why Good Network Security is so Important for Small Businesses

There is now a much greater awareness among the general public of the importance of good cybersecurity practices. This has undoubtedly been very helpful in the fight against cybercrime. When the average user is well informed about the potential risks and how to mitigate them, attackers have a much harder time in successfully attaching large numbers of people. Back in the earlier days of the internet, before the average computer user understood what a phishing e-mail was, mass e-mail scams had a much higher success rate.

Within the business arena, cybersecurity is critical for a number of reasons. There have been a number of high profile hack attacks targeting private corporations and government agencies alike. Some of these attacks appear to be state sponsored, while others are the work of dedicated and organised malicious actors. These attacks demonstrate that even the largest corporations are vulnerable to cybercrime, but would these criminals target smaller businesses as well?

Customer Trust

Trust is incredibly valuable for any business and building trust between your business and your customers is a long and difficult process. It is considerably easier to lose trust than it is to build it, for this reason, you need to do all that you can to protect it once you’ve earned it. While a small business is unlikely to attract the attention of foreign governments, they are common targets for individual cybercriminals.

Many businesses still fail to take cybersecurity seriously and the results can be disastrous. Cybercriminals could be after sensitive information about your customers, such as credit card numbers or other personally identifiable information. Should this information fall into the wrong hands and be used to commit fraud or identity theft, you could face legal action and a financial settlement on top of the damage your reputation will suffer.

Extortion

The WannaCry cyberattack revealed the devastating potential of ransomware, a specific type of malware which encrypts the victim’s files and keeps the decryption key behind a paywall. After paying the ransom, the files are decrypted. For many small businesses, such a piece of software could put them in a position of having to pay the ransom or face potentially fatal consequences for their business.

If a small business owner finds themselves in the position of having to either pay a ransom that they can ill-afford or sacrifice their business’s future, then the cost of investing in decent network security seems very minor. Hire the services of professional network security experts to keep your business safe from intrusion.

Exploit Your Rival’s Failures

If you invest in your network security when your competition doesn’t, you can benefit from their short-sightedness. When potential customers see that a business cannot keep their information secure, they are more likely to move on to a competitor.

Investing in network security is essential for any modern business. Failing to invest in network security can end up with you facing loss of earnings, extortion demands, or even legal action.

Jeremy

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