The 5 Most Common Cyber Attacks Targeting Small Businesses – And How to Prevent Them.

The unfortunate truth is that almost every small business will be targeted by cybercriminals at some point, it's just a matter of time. We're going to take a look at five of the most common cyber attacks targeting small businesses and what you can do to protect yourself, your staff, and your business against them.

Common Cyber Attacks Targeting Small Businesses.

Phishing Attacks. One of the most common cyber attacks targeting small businesses are phishing attacks. This is where cybercriminals will try to trick you or your employees into giving them sensitive information such as login credentials or financial details. They do this by sending emails that look like they're from a legitimate source, such as your bank or a trusted website. Once they have this information, they can use it to access your accounts and steal your money.

To protect yourself against phishing attacks https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/phishing-still-a-problem-despite-the-work, you should never click on links or open attachments in emails from sources you don't know and trust. If you're unsure about an email, you can always contact the company or website mentioned using a different method (such as phone or live chat) to confirm that it's legitimate.

Ransomware Attacks. We are seeing a large rise in the number of businesses reporting that they have been a ransomware target https://ronin-pentest.com/Blog/ransomware-explained. A ransomware attack is where cybercriminals will encrypt your data and demand a ransom to decrypt it. This can be a devastating attack for small businesses as it can lead to the loss of important data and downtime while you're waiting for the issue to be resolved, as well as a financial loss if you pay the ransom.

To protect yourself against ransomware, you should have robust backups in place so that if your data is encrypted, you can restore it from a backup. You should also ensure that all your software is up to date and that you have a good anti-virus solution in place.

Social Engineering Attacks. Social engineering attacks are where cybercriminals will try to trick you or your employees into doing something that will give them access to your systems or data. For example, they may call up pretending to be from IT and say they need your login details to fix an issue on your computer. Or they may send an email asking you to click on a link to update your details.

To protect yourself against social engineering attacks, you should never give out login details or other sensitive information over the phone or by email.

Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks. A DDoS attack is where a cybercriminal will try to make your website or email server unavailable by flooding it with traffic or requests. This attack can prevent customers from being able to access your website or email, which can lead to a loss of sales and damage to your reputation.

To protect yourself against DDoS attacks, you should ensure that your website and email servers are properly configured and have the capacity to handle large amounts of traffic. You should also consider implementing a firewall to help block malicious traffic.

Malware Attacks. Malware is a type of software that can be used to damage or disable computers. It can be used to steal sensitive information, delete important files, or even hold your data for ransom. Malware can be installed on your computer in a number of ways, such as by clicking on a malicious link or attachment, downloading a malicious file, or visiting a compromised website.

To protect yourself against malware attacks, you should ensure that all your software is up to date and that you have a good anti-virus solution in place. You should also be careful about what you click on and only download files from trusted sources.

These are just some of the more common cyber-attacks targeting small businesses, but there are many others. By taking some basic precautions and being aware of the threats out there, you can help protect your business against them.

Applying a Defence in Depth Approach.

One way small businesses can protect themselves against cyber attacks targeting small businesses is by adopting a defence-in-depth approach. This involves implementing multiple layers of security controls to make it harder for attackers to gain access to your systems and data. Common security controls include things like firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems, antivirus software and user authentication measures.

Another way to protect your small business against cyber-attacks is to keep your software and systems up to date. Attackers often exploit vulnerabilities that have been publicly disclosed but not yet patched by the software vendor. By ensuring you have the latest security patches installed, you can close these holes and make it much harder for attackers to gain access to your systems.

Another important measure small businesses can take to protect themselves against cyber-attacks is to educate their employees about cybersecurity risks and best practices. Many attacks are successful because employees unwittingly provide attackers with the information, they need to gain access to systems or data. By educating your employees on things like social engineering scams and phishing emails, you can make it much harder for attackers to target your business.

Small Business? Worried about Cyber Security? Let us Help.

If you are a small business owner or an IT Manager then you should be aware of the different types of cyber-attacks that are out there and how to protect your business against them, but it can be hard to keep up with all the latest types of attacks and how to prevent them. That's where we can help.

Our mission https://ronin-pentest.com/about is to demystify the process of cyber security for businesses, regardless of their size, enabling them to be both compliant and as secure as possible from cyber-attacks. No business should feel that cyber security protection is out of their reach. Contact us https://ronin-pentest.com/contact for more information on the cyber security services and solutions we can implement to ensure your company is robustly protected from cyber attacks targeting small businesses.