Protecting Your Business or Assets From Cyber Threats
Posted March 30, 2022
How much information is stored on your phone? On your computer? Do you have a note on your phone with all your passwords? Are your passwords easy to guess and the same for every site?
Although you cannot always see the threat, cyber security threats are genuine and could turn your life and business operations upside down.
As a small business owner, you want to protect your business, employees, & customers. To do so, you will need to be always on guard against these four cyber security threats.
1. Phishing Emails
There’s a high likelihood that you have received a phishing email at some point in time. These emails appear to be sent from a trusted source but are trying to get you to send sensitive information, download a malicious file, or click on a malicious link.
Phishing emails are unique because they do not target and corrupt technology but rather take advantage of the people within a business. To combat this cyber security threat, you can raise awareness within your company, conduct training with your employees, and investigate cloud-based email security advisors to secure your company’s email network.
2. Malware Attacks
Malware attacks are one of the most significant security threats you can face. Malware is defined as software intentionally designed to disrupt a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information or systems, deprive users of access to information, or unknowingly interfere with the user’s computer security and privacy.
Typically, malware attacks come from suspicious website downloads, spam emails, or connecting to other infected devices. This cyber security attack can be particularly disruptive to your business as it can require costly repairs or replacements to expensive technologies.
You can help to protect your company from malware attacks by utilizing strong technological defenses and keeping your web security up to date.
3. Ransomware
Have you ever seen those criminal justice movies where the villain takes over the company’s computer network and demands a ransom before the data is released? Well, it doesn’t just happen in Hollywood. Ransomware attacks affect thousands of businesses every year, and the perpetrators could target your business. In recent years, nearly 70% of ransomware attacks targeted small businesses demanding an average of $116,000.
Small businesses cannot risk losing their data and are between a rock and a hard place for ransomware attacks.
To protect your business from ransomware attacks, it is crucial to have your data and information backed up on the cloud so that you are not at risk of losing anything. It is also vital to have solid technological defenses and up-to-date web security.
4. Weak Passwords
When we get the email reminder to change our passwords, most of us roll our eyes and take a deep sigh, but strong password protection and procedures are essential for maintaining cyber security.
Think of the private information in the accounts you access, the company data, and the personal client information. All this sensitive information is at risk if your password can be easily guessed.
To avoid weak passwords, use more than 15 characters, don’t recycle old passwords, and avoid common words and character combinations. You can also protect your accounts by enabling multi-factor authentication. This extra step requires more than just a password to access the accounts, giving you an added layer of security.
How Thayer Financial Protects Your Financial Information
As you can see, cyber security threats are real, and they could affect your business if you are not taking the proper precautions. Now, you may be wondering what Thayer Financial does to protect your personal financial information, and we’re glad you asked.
Data security is critical to us, and we maintain and implement industry-leading principles to keep our clients’ information secure. We use unique complex passwords for all logins, multi-factor authentication when available, and have leading malware protection on our computers. We also do not keep or store clients’ passwords for their client portals, bank accounts, etc.
As a fiduciary, we work in your best interest 100% of the time, and that includes maintaining data security.
With so much information being stored online, we hope you take the necessary precautions to protect your company’s assets and your personal assets. If you have questions about how best to protect your finances from cyber security threats, we would be glad to talk with you and work with you to find a solution. Want some more tips on cyber security and practices that you should develop? Check out our blog on Cyber Security Habits that you should establish HERE!
Thayer Financial, L.L.C. (“Thayer Financial”) is a registered investment adviser offering advisory services in the States of North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and in other jurisdictions where exempted. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. This website’s presence on the Internet shall not be directly or indirectly interpreted as a solicitation of investment advisory services to persons of another jurisdiction unless otherwise permitted by statute. Follow-up or individualized responses to consumers in a particular state by Thayer Financial in the rendering of personalized investment advice for compensation shall not be made without our first complying with jurisdiction requirements or according to an applicable state exemption.
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