Tag Archives: cyber attack

Things to Consider in Building a Data Recovery Strategy

Data Recovery Strategy
Cybersecurity, Data Backup, Security, , , ,

Disasters have different effects on our business, all of them unpleasant. We can avoid many of these disasters by setting up cybersecurity protocols to protect sensitive data. We can think of a data recovery strategy to help prevent these disasters from happening. Many threats avoid the tightest defences, leaving your system in complete chaos. With these breaches, you need a plan for recovering data that will keep your business running even if something unexpected happens.

Types of Disasters to Look Out For With Your Data Recovery Strategy

There are many types of disasters that can befall a business. The first type that comes to mind is the online attacks that lead to data breaches, hacking, and data theft if you don’t have a recovery strategy in place. Indeed, cybercrime is among the leading causes of data loss and damage these days. But there are also plenty of other dangers that you should be able to recover from.

Building Disasters

Natural disasters or man-made disruptions in the physical location of your business can cause a lot of damage and must be planned for. If you experience a fire or the power goes out, a bucket of water or generators might not be enough to save your business. You will also need a good data recovery strategy that you can rely on.

Communication Failure

Digital and non-digital disasters can also cause a failure in communication. Hacking and data breaches, for instance, can hinder inter-departmental communication. Natural disasters can also cut off communication channels, but differently.

Application Failure

Hardware and software that haven’t been updated regularly can cause systems to crash, which can cause data loss or damage if we have no recovery strategy for our data. You can protect your business from these things by ensuring your equipment and all apps are always up to date.

Datacenter Disasters

Malware attacks are the most common cause of data centre disasters. Viruses, phishing software, and similar tools can directly target your company’s data for theft or use them to make ransom demands.

City and Regional Disasters

These are more widespread disasters that affect the entire city or state. It can be harder to stop these disasters because they are often out of people’s control. Typhoons, floods, earthquakes, and other similar natural disasters are examples of this type.

National and Worldwide Disasters

These disasters happen on an even bigger scale. They can be physical or digital and can quickly spread to many places. The recent pandemic is an example of a disaster that was so bad that it stopped all businesses globally. Similarly, many types of data attacks also target victims on a global level. That is why we should always have a data recovery strategy in place when this type of disaster happens.

Critical Elements of an Efficient and Reliable Data Recovery Strategy Solution

Now that you know what you are up against, you can plan a data recovery strategy that will work best for your business. When making a strategy, prioritize which parts of your business must be recovered first.

Each business is unique and has its own specific needs and priorities. To understand the best data recovery strategy for your business, you need to know about your resources, finances, risks, insurance, supply chain, and compliance needs.

The Crucial Role of Dependable Backup In Data Recovery Strategy

When coming up with a data recovery strategy, you should always have a copy of all your data for when something goes wrong. You can store your backup in the same place as your business, which sometimes works and is usually the easiest option. But usually, cloud-based data backup is much more reliable, especially in natural disasters that could destroy your physical data storage.

Final Thoughts

Preparing a data recovery strategy for your business is not something you should take lightly, as you can see. It will take a lot of careful thought, time, and, ideally, the expertise of cybersecurity experts.

One step you can take is to watch our on-demand cybersecurity webinar. You’ll feel safer knowing your credentials are not for sale by hackers!

You know your business best, so you are in a great position to make a strategic plan for data recovery. But if you would like to take advantage of our team’s expertise and experience in data recovery, we are more than happy to help! Call us anytime, and we will prepare your business for any disaster.

Do Small Businesses Need Cybersecurity?

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Cybersecurity for small businesses - person working on a laptop showing different security icons.

Improving your small business’s cybersecurity strategies.

Reliable cybersecurity to eliminate attacks is essential for every business, regardless of size. The subject is so popular that it has earned a standalone topic on Google News. However, small and midsize businesses don’t think much of cybersecurity. The media also perpetuates this as most digital ink is dedicated to attacking large global enterprises.

The truth is, SMBs are suffering. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), cyber-attacks are a growing concern for small businesses and the US economy. Find out more below about why hackers target small businesses and the impact of cybersecurity.

Why Cyber-hackers Go After Small Businesses

Verizon‘s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report shows that 44% of the breaches affected small and midsize businesses. The reason for the high number of security risks for startups includes:

1.      Lack of Resources and Support

Most small businesses do not have a dedicated employee specializing in following trends, implementing technologies, and staying up to date with the newest technologies to mitigate risks.

In fact, about 43% SMBs admit they have no function in their company dedicated to cyber-security.

2.      Tight Budgets

Small Businesses do not have the budgets of fortune 500 companies to implement security strategies. Most avoid spending on resources, training, and consultants by ignoring the latest updates and patches, leaving their systems vulnerable to attacks.

Fortunately, there are low-cost options to start building the foundation that doesn’t break the bank.

3.      Inadequate Employee Training

Your employees are your greatest asset for your business and also the greatest cyber security vulnerability. Hackers know how to penetrate the weakest links on the networks. Employees can unknowingly download malicious content from the web or fail to secure their login credentials.

4.      Lack of Security Policies

Anyone would avoid wasting money on audits that can be thousands of dollars, but yet this is the normal first step before reviewing their current plan with their existing IT provider. Would you take a certification exam before studying and reviewing the material?

It is best to review your policies and implement a low-cost option first for a better audit report. It’s better than paying for the audit out of the gate.

5.      Security Vulnerabilities

Cybercriminals are looking for easy targets, and a vast majority of small businesses don’t prioritize cyber security.  The problem is it makes them easy targets. Think of a cybercriminal as someone going door to door and turning the handle of your home during the day. The first door that opens is their next target.

A simple lock on the door would deter this threat and send them on to the next house. There are strategies to build your defense against these thieves. Your strategy can be reviewed periodically as your business continues to grow and also when you afford other strategies that will mitigate the risks of cybercriminals

Impact of Cyber-Attack on Your Business

A successful cyber-attack can have significant repercussions on your business. It will affect your bottom line, your business standing, and the trust of customers. Here are some of the major impacts of security breaches:

  • Business downtime: Reduced productivity due to lost employee time in dealing with the situation
  • Reputational damage: Tarnished business image caused by a breach and possible exposure of customer information (credentials, personal information, etc.)
  • Loss of finances: Financial repercussions of hiring experts to repair everything and hopefully recover everything.
  • Legal consequences of a cyber breach: Every business must comply with data protection and laws for the customer data they hold. Failure to deploy appropriate security measures to keep their data safe can lead to fines and regulatory sanctions.

Looking Ahead

Studies estimate cyber-attacks led to cause $6 trillion in damages to SMBs in 2021.  Most of these company operations are lean, and those that ignore the need for robust cybersecurity can easily fall prey. Getting economical and efficient cybersecurity is possible, even without an established full-blown IT department.

Over the next month, we will be discussing different vendors that provide low-cost software to implement in your environment to fill the gaps in your business security strategy. Be sure to check back as we review how these products work.  If you want to learn more about our services and improve your cyber security strategy, contact SystemsNet today.

Can You Be Prepared for Every Kind of Cyber Attack?

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20170127

Preparing for a potential cyber attack is essential to avoiding crises in your company

Cyber attacks can originate from all kinds of sources and exploit a variety of vulnerable technologies.

One example came from the 2017 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), recently held in Detroit. A panel discussion focused on the inadequate cyber security in “connected cars.” Car technologies that engage in wireless communication are susceptible to hacking that allows cyber criminals to remotely control the vehicles. They can also steal or tamper with other kinds of data, violating vehicle owners’ privacy.

Similar vulnerabilities are found in other devices, whether they’re smartphones or digital security cameras, industrial sensors or cars. With the proliferation of Internet-enabled devices, and with new threats cropping up all the time, businesses may feel discouraged about their ability to prepare for cyber attacks.

Although there’s no way to completely eliminate the chances of an attack, it’s still possible to strengthen your ability to prepare for different kinds of threats – preventing them or blocking them before they develop into full-blown crises for your company. If your cyber security plan contains certain important qualities, you’ll be in a better position to defend yourself.

What are some of the qualities that should define your cyber security plan?

A proactive approach

If you’re still taking a reactive stance to cyber security, in which you act only once a problem is underway, you’re putting your business in unnecessary and heightened danger. Protecting your company requires a proactive approach, where you plan for the possibility of various threats and remain vigilant against them.

One example of this proactive approach is 24 x 7 x 365 monitoring of network infrastructure. Along with early detection of problems that aren’t related to cyber crime, round-the-clock monitoring is also likely to catch suspicious illegal activities, including patterns of network traffic that indicate an attack.

The sooner you pick up on the signs, the better you’re able to marshal your resources and either fend off the attack entirely or minimize its damage. In this way, you defend your vital systems and sensitive data.

Along with continuous, active monitoring, proactive approach involves planning for future security threats. For example, you can predict the kinds of vulnerabilities that will arise from new devices, software, and Internet platforms. You’ll be in a better position to lay the groundwork for a cyber security plan that will serve you well both now and in the future.

Flexibility and scalability

The data and other assets your business wants to defend can change on a fairly regular basis.

Employees may rely on a range of devices for their work, including smartphones and tablets; what they work with can change from one project to another. In what ways can you safely introduce new devices to your network?

You may switch software programs from one year to the next, or use them only on a short-term basis to complete a specific goal. How will you safely transfer your data from one kind of software to another? What happens to your data when you stop using a particular program?

Sometimes your business will expand; you may wind up hiring new people or opening up branches in new locations. Other times, you’ll be scaling back, and certain employees who discontinue a project or leave your company will need to lose log-in privileges and other credentials. Your cyber security plan needs to accommodate these changes.

Collaboration

Cyber security shouldn’t fall only on IT professionals; it should be a company-wide concern.

There are a variety of attacks that seek to trick people into disclosing sensitive data; these include tactics such as phishing, in which fraudulent emails induce employees to download malware-infected documents, click on links to fraudulent websites, or share unauthorized information with scammers.

Training employees to remain vigilant about these kinds of attacks is essential. Beyond that, you need to cultivate a culture of cyber security at your company, enforcing safe computing habits and encouraging employees to remain in communication with each other about potential threats.

If you want to improve your cyber security preparedness, please contact us. We will work with you on developing powerful, cost-effective defenses, including round-the-clock monitoring, employee training, high-quality user authentication measures, and top-of-the-line anti-malware programs.