Cybersecurity Threats to Businesses – Security Boulevard

By Kayla Coco-Stotts Posted December 28, 2019

Cybersecurity is an important topic for all businesses interested in protecting their data. For organizations of any size, stolen information can have lasting impacts. In fact, some never recover, with 60% of small businesses closing within six months of a cyberattack¹.

For IT admins, the concept of cybersecurity can be daunting, as it involves securing physical and virtual access to servers, systems, applications, data, and other equipment. The annual cost of cybercrime — involving companies that are hacked or otherwise disrupted by hackers — is projected to increase by 72% in the next five years. Cybercrime is on the rise, and as such, it is valuable for organizations to evaluate what cybersecurity threats are currently challenging the security of their businesses².

Threats to Security Are Evolving

Cyberattacks exposed over 7.9 billion records over the first nine months of 2019, with only six of those breaches exposing over 100 million financial or personal records³.

With technology evolving at such a rapid pace, IT admins are struggling to thwart the near-constant threat of a cyberattack. Below we’ve outlined a few of the biggest cybersecurity threats that businesses and IT organizations need to be prepared for. Keep in mind, however, that this is by no means a comprehensive list, and diligence should be maintained.

Social Engineering

Social engineers exploit people’s emotions to fool them into providing information that can range from personal to professional. They use trickery to establish trust, then exploit that trust to get what they want. These attacks seek to deceive people into releasing material like credit card numbers, social security numbers, and user credentials.

According to the 2019 State of the Phish Report, 83% of organizations experienced a social engineering attack in 2018, up from 76% in 2017⁴. This form of attack thrives on fooling users into revealing information that can leave entire systems, networks, applications, and databases vulnerable for hackers to prey upon. 

Ransomware Attacks

Similar to social engineering, ransomware is on the rise as well. This attack uses software designed to keep the user (Read more...)

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