How to Help Your Business Avoid the Five Deadliest Cybersecurity Threats
Data breaches, downtime, and other cybersecurity threats are becoming increasingly commonplace in Canada. A recent estimate showed that more than half of all Canadians have been a victim of at least one cybercrime, with the most common types of attacks being virus/malware attacks, ransomware attacks, data breaches, and malicious emails. What’s more, the cost of data breaches in the nation is on the rise with the average cost of a data breach in Canada hitting an eye-popping $6.11 million or an average of US$81 per compromised record.
The good news is that it is possible to avoid becoming a statistic by taking tried and proven countermeasures to keep your IT systems safe at all times.
The following are the three deadliest cybersecurity threats to watch out for:
Not Paying Attention to the Dangers
As a busy CEO or corporate executive, you likely have a lot on your plate. Meeting with clients, business partners, and suppliers; planning for the production of new goods and/or services; supervising current employees and hiring and training new ones; keeping track of inventory; setting a course for your company’s future, and other important tasks need your attention every single day. It’s all too easy in such a setting to ignore potential cybersecurity threats until it’s too late.
Granted, you can’t do it all. That’s why you may want to seriously consider partnering with a reputable IT managed service such as OnServe. With additional help from a large team of cybersecurity experts, you can focus on doing what you do best while ensuring your IT systems are being properly supervised at all times.
Unwillingness to Pay for Top-Tier Cybersecurity Services
Even large companies don’t have unlimited finances. To this end, most savvy business owners and executives are continually looking for ways to reduce expenses without negatively impacting customer services. Even so, reducing your cybersecurity budget is a big mistake that could cost your company dearly in the event of a cyberattack. A better alternative would be to boost your IT budget to not only increase your cybersecurity but also improve data collection/analysis and IT automation to help your company boost profits and save money long-term.
Failing to Create a Cybersecurity Plan
Realizing the dangers that cybersecurity attacks pose to your company is just the first step. Next, you need to create a plan to deal with potential attacks before they materialize. This plan should include:
- Clear cybersecurity rules for all staff members, coupled with ongoing IT cybersecurity training and testing to help employees adhere to effective cybersecurity practices
- A plan to regularly update company software to eliminate vulnerabilities that could lead to a hack.
- Real-time data back-up systems to prevent loss of data in the event of a ransomware attack
- Regular assessments of your IT cybersecurity standards to ensure your company is safe from new threats
Not Regularly Updating Your Business Continuity Plan
Containing a breach in under 30 days can enable your company to save US$1 million. Sadly, the meantime for companies to discover and deal with a breach is a whopping 181 days as cybercriminals take measures to ensure they remain undetected as they continually access a company’s systems.
Empower your business to save large sums of money by having an effective system in place for detecting and dealing with data breaches. Your business continuity plan should include:
- Real-time back-ups of all company systems and data
- Periodic testing of back-up systems to ensure they are in good working order and easily accessible should the need arise\
- A plan for immediately notifying the Canadian government in the event of a breach
- A plan for notifying the public in the event of a breach
- A plan for getting systems cleaned and up and running
- A plan for dealing with downtime that may occur after a breach
Failing to Hire Proactive IT Experts
Does your in-house IT department or IT managed service proactively look for ways to help your business avoid data breaches and improve overall IT cybersecurity while keeping your systems running at optimal speed and performance? If not, it’s time to look for an IT professional who can help your company reach its full potential.
Break it/fix it services may have been suitable for times past, but they certainly won’t meet your current and future IT needs. Don’t want until your systems break down or suffer a debilitating attack to hire IT experts. Get the help you need today to not only keep your systems secure but also take full advantage of all that technology has to offer in order to boost office efficiency, provide top-tier customer service, leverage company data to make data-driven decisions, and cut costs.
Why Let OnServe Deal with Your Cybersecurity Threats?
OnServe is an IT managed service provider that specializes in providing cybersecurity products and services to corporations in Kingston, Brockville, and other cities in the Eastern Ontario area. Our cybersecurity services include:
- Cybersecurity assessments
- Endpoint security
- Email protection
- Wireless access point security
- Perimeter/gateway cybersecurity
- Mobile device security
- IT cybersecurity training
- Security as a service packages
- Business continuity planning
- Real-time back-up solutions
Our IT experts are experienced, certified professionals who customize their services to meet your exact needs and industry requirements. We partner with leading technology companies to offer the best products and services; furthermore, we continually stay abreast of IT and technology trends and developments to ensure each one of our customers has access to cutting-edge tools and services that will keep their IT set-up operating at optimal speed, performance and security now and in the future.
Click here to get in touch with us and learn more about our services or start a free conversation with one of our IT experts by calling (613) 634-8125.