The digital world can be a dangerous one – especially for small and medium-sized businesses. While traditionally, the IT department has been the division shouldered with handling tasks like cybersecurity, the consumerization of information technology has complicated things. There is an increasing portion of the population that carries and uses smartphones, tablets and laptops in their everyday lives. Due to the ease-of-use associated with these devices, issues have arisen in the workplace that have had disastrous consequences.
But now that dialog is starting to occur on these topics, the subject of responsibility has come to the front of the discussion.
"We are now on the cusp of becoming aware of our cyber environment," said assistant to the special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, Troy Land, who spoke at a recent cybersecurity panel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "There's this realization that cybersecurity isn't the realm of experts: it's now the realm of everybody from the CEO down to the mailroom."
With this in mind, smaller organizations need to place a bigger focus on procuring modern cybersecurity assets. Layered, software-based defenses are going to be critical for growing companies.
Mentalities need to change
One of the biggest obstacles to accomplishing new standards in security is the feeling of safety companies have if they have never been targeted. If a defense-compromising incident has never arisen, then an organization is less likely to believe that something has to change.
But chances are, a business that has never been effected by an event of this caliber probably – and unknowingly – has been. Attacks generally go undiscovered for about six months after they initially occur.
"Most organizations do not make the proper investment in protecting their infrastructure until it is too late," wrote Forbes contributor Marc Tobias. "The return on investment to protect critical information and secure presence on the Internet is well worth the cost. Unfortunately, nobody wants to spend any money until there is a breach; then they have an open checkbook. The potential threat to an entity in terms of public relations, reputation, lawsuits and violation of state and federal privacy laws can be substantial."
The smaller the business, the greater the stakes
While bigger businesses tend to have larger pools of resources from which to draw, smaller organizations may have fewer finances to fall back on – what might constitute a small, relatively insignificant breach for a Fortune 500 company might permanently close the doors of an up-and-coming enterprise.
This means that a small business with an "it will never happen" kind of attitude could be setting itself up for a major disaster. Defenses have to be bolstered as threats continue to evolve – especially for those companies with more on the line.
Faronics plays a major role in protection
Small businesses may feel that the task of cybersecurity is much too daunting or costly to even begin to handle. But thanks to Faronics, there are a number of effective solutions that can be leveraged easily.
There is plenty of harmful programs that can enter an enterprise network and leak valuable information. This is why Faronics Anti-Virus and Anti-Executable are so viable to possess. Anti-Virus, as the first line of defense, prevents threats like malware from getting into the system. In the event that something is able to slip past, however, Anti-Executable – an application whitelisting software – will ensure that it never has a chance to activate itself. This is the kind of one-two punch that all companies need, and which startups require.
