The saying no man is an island has never been more apt than today, particularly among business establishments.
These days businesses could no longer operate without technology. Gadgets such as laptops and desktops are used to store critical business information, including business plans, product delivery schedules, payroll and files of employees, billing statements, bank accounts and credit information of clients.
Coupled with connections to the internet, these vital information for business have never been more susceptible to a wide array of threats.
“The most common threat that people still think of up to now is that of viruses, but for businesses, the greatest threat is information theft or data loss,” Eric Hoh, Symantec’s vice president for Asia South region, said in a press briefing Tuesday.
“The most common threat that people still think of up to now is that of viruses, but for businesses, the greatest threat is information theft or data loss,” Eric Hoh, Symantec’s vice president for Asia South region, said in a press briefing Tuesday.Add to that, most business owners do not have information security as one of their core competencies.
“In a random survey that we did, people still think that they can keep their information secure with only an anti-virus. The landscape of threats has changed. It is no longer the same as it was before,” Hoh said, stressing that an anti-virus can only do so much as prevent virus from getting into your computer.
The wide array of threats that businesses have to deal with now, with regard to their information, includes compromised websites, hackers, malware, spam, data loss, and botnet servers, among others.
Hoh cited a study conducted in 2008, which showed that 90 percent of records lost by small and medium businesses worldwide involved organized crime targeting corporate information, while 73 percent of companies around the world were hit by cyber attacks.
“It is not only about someone hacking into your computer or someone stealing data from you. If your computer has malware, it can collapse anytime together with the vital business information that you have stored in it. What will happen to the business when that happens?” Hoh said.
“The most common threat that people still think of up to now is that of viruses, but for businesses, the greatest threat is information theft or data loss,” Eric Hoh, Symantec’s vice president for Asia South region, said in a press briefing Tuesday.Add to that, most business owners do not have information security as one of their core competencies.
“In a random survey that we did, people still think that they can keep their information secure with only an anti-virus. The landscape of threats has changed. It is no longer the same as it was before,” Hoh said, stressing that an anti-virus can only do so much as prevent virus from getting into your computer.
The wide array of threats that businesses have to deal with now, with regard to their information, includes compromised websites, hackers, malware, spam, data loss, and botnet servers, among others.
Hoh cited a study conducted in 2008, which showed that 90 percent of records lost by small and medium businesses worldwide involved organized crime targeting corporate information, while 73 percent of companies around the world were hit by cyber attacks.
“It is not only about someone hacking into your computer or someone stealing data from you. If your computer has malware, it can collapse anytime together with the vital business information that you have stored in it. What will happen to the business when that happens?” Hoh said.
1. Educate employees
Develop Internet security guidelines and educate employees about Internet safety, security, and the latest threats. Part of the training should focus on the importance of regularly changing passwords and protecting mobile devices.
2. Safeguard important business information
2. Safeguard important business information
Safeguarding information is critical to businesses of all sizes and SMBs are facing increased risks to their confidential information. One data breach could mean financial ruin for an SMB. Implement a complete protection solution to ensure proprietary information—whether its credit card information, customer data or employee records—is safe.
3. Implement an effective backup and recovery plan
3. Implement an effective backup and recovery plan
Protecting information is more than implementing an antivirus solution. Backup and recovery is a critical component of complete information protection to keep SMBs’ desktops, servers and applications running smoothly in case of disruption—whether it’s a flood, an earthquake, a virus or a system failure. One outage could mean customer dissatisfaction and costly downtime, which could be catastrophic to the business.
4. Secure email and Web assets
4. Secure email and Web assets
Select a mail and Web security solution that can help mitigate spam and email threats so SMBs can protect sensitive information and spend more time on day-to-day activities. Spammers and phishers will use current events and social engineering tactics to get users to give up personal information such as credit card and banking information.
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