Phishing
In essence, phishing happens when a criminal poses as a legitimate business or organization. This can happen over the phone, via email, or even on sophisticated websites designed to mimic a legitimate site.
Your wayward employee hands over access with the best of intentions. The criminal can then rifle through your network and files at will and walk away with valuable information.
One way this happens is when employees use company devices for personal use. For example, someone checks their personal email and follow a link out to a fraudulent site where they enter login credentials. Since most people use similar username/password combos, it often lets the phisher access your network.
The best defense here is a strict policy against personal use of company hardware and ongoing education. Your employees must understand the threat before they can take it seriously.
IoT
The Internet of Things offers a lot of conveniences. It also multiplies the opportunities for hackers to infiltrate your network. More connected devices mean the better the odds that the security settings are wrong on one of them.
After all, your IT people only need one moment of distraction to apply the wrong setting. Plus, employees often bring their own devices and log-on to your network with them.
You can help combat this by setting up a dedicated internal network for company hardware and a secondary network for employee devices.
Malicious Insiders
One of the most difficult threats for business owners to accept is the malicious insider. A malicious insider is typically a disgruntled employee who manipulates your system for personal gain or leaves with valuable information, such as:
- Customers’ financial information
- Trade secrets
- Patents
Fortunately, this is also a threat you can manage with good access control policies. Always restrict employee access to data that’s essential for their job functions. Deal with exceptions on a case-by-case basis, so you can evaluate whether you want a specific employee to have extra access.
Additionally, use good physical security around your server rooms and other sensitive hardware.
Parting Thoughts on Cybersecurity Threats
The cybersecurity threats listed above represent just a small selection of the threats to your network. You can reduce the risk through education, multiple networks, and good access control policies.
For the best protection, though, you should consult with cybersecurity experts. They can conduct a security audit for weak points, make recommendations, and even fix many of the problems.
Worried about putting your data in the cloud? Check out our post about security in the cloud for the real scoop.
