Some mindsets have become dated very quickly due to the pandemic. With the rise of ransomware attacks over the last few years, you no longer can think, “I’m just a small business, it won’t happen to me,” or “I’ll just let my insurance company take care of it.”
Simply having cyber insurance, and certainly having none, is no longer sufficient. A layered defense strategy to protect your network is vital. Hackers aren’t just going after big companies we read about in headlines; they’ve also realized that attacking 1,000 similar small businesses is easier than attempting to attack one large, nationwide company. They’ll make just as much money, and without a layered defense strategy in place, you’ll be ill-prepared, having innocently assumed ‘no one goes after the little guy.’
Overall, ransomware attacks have increased by 150% in the last year, with an average ransom demand of $170,000. To better understand the importance of defensive strategies in addition to cyber insurance, think about this: If you rely solely on fire insurance to protect your house against that type of catastrophe, yes, they’ll rebuild your house, but there will be irreplaceable damage. You won’t be able to get back the photographs, memories, or sentimental items lost in the fire. Other precautionary steps need to be taken other than having fire insurance: making sure your smoke alarms are working, cleaning your chimney if you have a fireplace, and checking your appliances and wiring, for example. Even steps such as scanning film photographs will help lessen the blow if it were to ever happen.
In order to avoid reputational damage, clientele loss, data breaches, etc., additional steps need to be taken to protect your network against cyber threats. This is especially important because 1) your cyber insurance may not even cover ransom payments and 2) part of their services is educating you on Best Practices necessary for coverage! Additionally, you could find yourself paying exponentially more in recovery versus ransom. For example, one company paid $52,000 in ransom but their recovery cost them $17 million!
So, what else should you do to protect your network? Kevin Foster Sr., the Information Systems Security Administrator at Confidential Technology Company, has a great acronym:
Awareness
Patch your OS
Patch third-party apps
Limit admin users
Education
Thankfully, we handle all of this, plus more, for you through our Security Package! We understand this can be daunting to take on, which is why we go through this in intentional steps. First, we get to know you. Your leadership team, your weaknesses, your goals, your business layout…As we’re getting to know you, we take the time to educate you, ensuring we not only make good recommendations but that you also understand them. Then, with your trust, we manage the implementation for you. This way, you can continue focusing on your team, clients, products, or services. We’ll stay within your budget and take away your worries surrounding day-to-day IT issues or possible ransomware attacks.
Ready to take the next step? Sign up for a cybersecurity audit in the form here.
