Out of the many kinds of businesses out there, small businesses are generally the worst protected. This means that if they are hit by a larger attack, they can kiss their business goodbye. Bankruptcy, customer mistrust, and fraud can lie in wait after an initial attack has been performed, which might kill off a business too. So, the short version here is that small business owners need to be careful.
However, to be able to actively protect something that is vulnerable, you must first know what you are protecting it against.
Here are two of the larger threats to small businesses, what they need to look out for, and how they can work to improve their business while keeping these threats in mind.
#1 Spear phishing
Spear phishing is a dangerous, premeditated attack that might go on for months or just a few seconds. You can click here to learn more about spear phishing and how it works.
How can a small business protect against this?
What employers and business owners need to look out for are some tell-tale signs, like workers finding strange USB drives in car lots or around the building that no one is taking ownership of or accounts that are active when they shouldn’t be.
You might find that you are the recipient of a suspicious email that you might not know how to answer, or it just came out of the blue. Either way, you need to know that although spear phishing is a precise and stealthy act, there is the occasional thing that might seem off that can imply that there is something bigger happening. Keeping your eye out for these could save your business.
#2 Pretexting
Pretexting is very dangerous. It is through the act of lying that perpetrators get their hands on information that is private and confidential, such as passwords and little details, or even help them gain leverage for a larger, premeditated attack, such as spear phishing as described above.
How can a small business protect against this?
To help you overcome this, always encourage your employees to reach out to their manager if anyone starts to come to them with odd requests. For example, if a manager gets in contact with one of their team to give them certain information, it would be wise for the worker to contact their manager to see if they actually sent anything through a different means. For example, if they were messaged through teams, they might text or send an email, etc.
To wrap things up
When it comes to small businesses protecting themselves against premeditated and advanced cyberattacks, the road can be a little bit rocky. It can be tough ground to navigate, in other words. You might not know who to trust or where you can get the correct information from. The best way to make sure that you are avoiding this is probably to stay observant and to act on anything that might seem suspicious. Even if it turns out to be legitimate, there is never any harm in asking.