Cybersecurity is scary, especially for a mid-market company that isn’t ready to hire a CISO. That leaves a CTO, CIO, IT Director, or even the CEO or COO, in charge of ensuring that the business, its customers, and its suppliers are protected from cyber attacks. When confronted with the dangers, leaders might push back with a false sense of security, thinking that it won’t happen to them. So, let’s take a look at some of those myths that keep businesses on the wrong side of this escalating battle with hackers.
The 5 Myths of Cybersecurity
- Our Passwords Are Stong: That’s good. Strong passwords are the first step. Next comes multi-factor authentication. Without that, your business is still vulnerable. Consider that case that an employee uses the same (strong) password on all sites. Then, that password gets into the wrong hands on the dark web. Strong passwords are not enough.
- We Have Insurance: There’s still room for concern. Insurance companies took it in the shorts last year, with so many claims. They look to deny claims for “failure to follow/comply.” That means, even if you have cybersecurity plans in place, they may deny your claim if you’re not following through on those plans. When is the last time you ran a pen test? They also put limits on what they’ll pay out. If you get hacked, your legal fees may get used up well before you’re able to recover anything.
- Hackers Don’t Target Small Business: Well…they do. In fact, hackers are pretty indiscriminate. Their bots crawl through the internet looking for any device or network that might have vulnerabilities. The results of those activities get stored on the dark web for any hacker to purchase. The truth is, 67% of attempted hackings are on small businesses. The question to ask yourself is what would a breach mean to your business?
- We Don’t Store Data: No, but you have usernames and passwords to the systems that do, right? Imagine if the wrong person could sign into your Google Admin account or your Active Directory? You don’t need to have valuable data on hard drives to be vulnerable. And then there’s ransomware, where you get locked out of your accounts until you pay the ransom. That attack does not require you to hold sensitive data.
- Our IT Team Handles Cybersecurity: Many companies fall into false optimism because their IT teams install strong networks and anti-virus software. However, it’s your people that remain the biggest vulnerability. 100% of successful breaches can be traced back to human error. That is why your business needs Zero Trust security.
- Cybersecurity Is Too Expensive: You know what the response is going to be, right? An ounce of prevention? Companies no longer care about the expense once they’ve become victims of cybercrime. Suddenly, the cost to recover — which can be 8-13x the cost of prevention — is no longer a concern. So, spend the money now, not later when it becomes urgent and possibly fatal to the business.
Let’s Bust Those Cybersecurity Myths
If you have any concerns at all about your cybersecurity plans, then let’s set up a short call. I have some great options available, from hiring a virtual CISO (vCISO) to a full-on cybersecurity plan. Once we talk, we can get an assessment and penetration test set up to let you know exactly where your business stands.
Please contact me today at (480) 801-7471 or email me at stuart@mountainpathsolutions.com.
