Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are not much different than larger organizations when it comes to sensitive data or IT infrastructure, which makes them a popular target of cyberattacks.

Often, threat actors use the same methods to attack SMBs as they do enterprise organizations.

Viruses

Viruses and malware remain a popular tool for threat actors who want to hinder an organization’s IT infrastructure. Once a virus finds its way through one endpoint, such as a business workstation, it spreads through email messages or sharing of infected files across the network.

Ransomware

A ransomware attack involves a hacker taking control of computers and servers and then locking authorized users out. Access can only be regained by paying the hackers a ransom. Worse yet, control may not be given back even after the ransom is paid.

Phishing

Phishing attacks are a little subtler than viruses, malware, and ransomware in that they trick users into sharing sensitive information, including credentials, financial information, and valuable intellectual property through social engineering techniques. Your employees are misled by professional looking emails and slick websites that look like the real deal but were designed to deceive and collect sensitive data.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks

The server that hosts a company’s website gets many requests from other computers that it responds to. Threat actors launch a DDoS attack by sending millions of fake requests which overwhelms the server – all its focus and processing power is trying to respond to each of these phony requests and it becomes unable to provide access to real users.

Your Own Employees

Unfortunately, your own people can present a threat to your cybersecurity, most often through human error. If an employee fails to practice adequate security hygiene by neglecting to properly protect their credentials by connecting remotely via an VPN, threat actors can weasel their way in and gain increasing levels of access to more sensitive areas of your network and key systems.

Sometimes breaches can be physical because someone accidently leaves their device unattended while working on the road or leaving a door open to a server room. Worse yet is when a disgruntled employee decides to misuse their credentials for their own profit and steak intellectual property, customer data or financial information.

Assess, Protect and Respond

SMBs must mirror their larger counterparts if they want to avoid cyberattacks and be proactive. It’s critical that you assess your security posture, implement the capabilities to protect users, customers and data, and be prepared to respond to any threat to mitigate it and reduce the risk to your business operations and your reputation.