What Tech Companies Can Do to Protect Themselves from Cybercrime
According to a survey by IBM Security, the average cost of a cyberattack in 2020 was $3.86 million. This statistic alone should make it abundantly clear to businesses big and small that cyberthreats need to be taken seriously.
Any business that uses the internet to run or manage any aspect of its operations is very much exposed to cyberattacks, especially tech companies whose work is intrinsically tied to the online world. For companies that store confidential customer or partner information in the cloud or on internal networks, keeping this data safe should be of the utmost importance.
The good news is that awareness regarding the importance of cybersecurity is on the rise. According to a report by Gartner, the worldwide information security market is forecast to reach $170.4 billion in 2022.
Businesses, especially tech companies, are becoming increasingly aware of cybercrime threats and are boosting spending to protect themselves from the many types of cyberattacks that could potentially be crippling if they were to go undetected and uncontained.
Common Types of Cyberattacks
Much like technology itself, cyberattacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Their purpose is most often financial gain for the attackers, but can also be a matter of prestige and fame within the cybercriminal or hacking community. Whatever the reason, recovering from a cyberattack is a long and exhaustive process that usually ends up being incredibly expensive.
- Malware is malicious software designed to infiltrate computers and networks to compromise and potentially steal data. Malware is probably the most common type of cyberattack and comes in many, constantly changing forms, which is what makes it so unpredictable, dangerous and often hard to identify.
- Social engineering is based on deceiving people into letting the attackers gain access to their online accounts or their computer. These attacks aim to trick people into clicking on a suspicious link or attachment, allowing the attackers to infiltrate. Phishing is the most common type of social engineering, aimed at manipulating people into giving out confidential information.
- Distributed denial of service (DDoS) is a popular hack that criminals use to extort money. In a DDoS attack, cybercriminals flood the victim’s network with traffic their servers cannot handle, causing the network to crash and become unavailable to customers and employees, resulting in downtime and financial and reputational damage. The hackers then ask for payment in exchange for restoring the network to its previous state.
While these are some of the most common types of cyberattacks that businesses are exposed to, cybercriminals are always working on new ways to attack and infiltrate computer systems, which is why the process your company implements toward protecting itself from these types of threats needs to be one that evolves constantly to keep up with the ever-evolving face of cyberthreats.
How to Protect Your Tech Company
The best course of action would be to hire an in-house security expert or team of experts to install and maintain plans and protocols focused on protecting your business from cybercriminals. But if you’re just starting out and you don’t have the budget to hire dedicated security experts, there are still best practices that you and your employees can implement to keep your company safe from cyberattacks and ways to respond when they do occur. Here are some steps …
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