In this Information Age, securing a business is becoming an increasingly daunting challenge, and the damages from lapses in security are having a significant detrimental effect on small and medium-sized companies throughout the world. In order for businesses to protect themselves, they must identify the most common security threats and determine how those are relevant to their particular domain.
1. Malicious Online Content
Nearly all modern businesses must communicate online. Companies use the Internet to communicate with partners and vendors and to foster relationships with clients. This online communication exposes a business in numerous ways. Perhaps the most common way is the computer virus, which can result in loss of time, data and hardware. Another threat that companies face online is negative word of mouth. Such practices are so harmful, in fact, that many companies have turned to online reputation managers.
2. Physical Breaches
Attacks on modern companies are not limited to the online arena, and some of the most common security threats are physical breaches. Consider how much sensitive information is stored on an employee’s laptop computer or mobile device, and then imagine what could happen if one of those devices was stolen. Physical breaches can also occur due to lost or stolen USB sticks or by data being stolen directly from a laptop, mobile device or other access point.
3. Privilege Attacks
Employees need access, which is typically facilitated through passwords, and passwords remain the primary vulnerability for most systems. With privilege, a malicious entity can cause substantial damage or steal a considerable amount of data before anyone realizes it was ever there. When it comes to privilege attacks, we often imagine a Hollywood-esque hacker scenario, but most privilege attacks occur due to malware, backdoor accounts and so forth.
4. Denial of Service
Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks continue to be one of the common security threats for businesses because they’re relatively simple to orchestrate and difficult to trace back to the source. A DoS attack is also very difficult to defend against if the attacker is committed to it. Companies can overcome such threats, however, by not having a single point of failure. If, for instance, a company can quickly resume providing service to its clients through other channels, then DoS attacks become harder to orchestrate and less effective.
5. Employee Negligence
Employee negligence makes all the threats listed above more difficult to contend with. While employees themselves can be the threat, such as corporate espionage, such action is rare. What is common, however, is that employees become lazy about security protocols, and those lapses allow other threats to occur more easily. In order to combat this, companies must consistently train employees about security and enforce proper protocols.
Priority One
Many companies can no longer safeguard against the common security threats without assistance, which is why many of them turn to other companies who specialize in such matters. Priority One Security has great experience helping North Carolina and South Carolina business clients protect their physical and intellectual assets in an effective and cost-efficient manner.
1. Malicious Online Content
Nearly all modern businesses must communicate online. Companies use the Internet to communicate with partners and vendors and to foster relationships with clients. This online communication exposes a business in numerous ways. Perhaps the most common way is the computer virus, which can result in loss of time, data and hardware. Another threat that companies face online is negative word of mouth. Such practices are so harmful, in fact, that many companies have turned to online reputation managers.
2. Physical Breaches
Attacks on modern companies are not limited to the online arena, and some of the most common security threats are physical breaches. Consider how much sensitive information is stored on an employee’s laptop computer or mobile device, and then imagine what could happen if one of those devices was stolen. Physical breaches can also occur due to lost or stolen USB sticks or by data being stolen directly from a laptop, mobile device or other access point.
3. Privilege Attacks
Employees need access, which is typically facilitated through passwords, and passwords remain the primary vulnerability for most systems. With privilege, a malicious entity can cause substantial damage or steal a considerable amount of data before anyone realizes it was ever there. When it comes to privilege attacks, we often imagine a Hollywood-esque hacker scenario, but most privilege attacks occur due to malware, backdoor accounts and so forth.
4. Denial of Service
Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks continue to be one of the common security threats for businesses because they’re relatively simple to orchestrate and difficult to trace back to the source. A DoS attack is also very difficult to defend against if the attacker is committed to it. Companies can overcome such threats, however, by not having a single point of failure. If, for instance, a company can quickly resume providing service to its clients through other channels, then DoS attacks become harder to orchestrate and less effective.
5. Employee Negligence
Employee negligence makes all the threats listed above more difficult to contend with. While employees themselves can be the threat, such as corporate espionage, such action is rare. What is common, however, is that employees become lazy about security protocols, and those lapses allow other threats to occur more easily. In order to combat this, companies must consistently train employees about security and enforce proper protocols.
Priority One
Many companies can no longer safeguard against the common security threats without assistance, which is why many of them turn to other companies who specialize in such matters. Priority One Security has great experience helping North Carolina and South Carolina business clients protect their physical and intellectual assets in an effective and cost-efficient manner.
