Cybercrime and Cyber-Attacks

Cybercrime and Cyber-Attacks are becoming more prevalent with each passing day. Over half of small and medium businesses (SMB) have reported being the victims of cybercrimes.

Every day, there are new headlines about data breaches, hackings, Cyber-Attacks, and various forms of crimes against businesses. In a survey, over two-thirds of the participating businesses had suffered at least one cyber attack, while one-third had experienced the same in the last 12-months.

66% of small businesses are very concerned about cyber security risk.

Many governments have moved to the cloud but are looking for better ways to protect their data. A part of that is to increase collaboration between intelligence and law enforcement agencies worldwide to tackle crime.

The popularity of smartphones and the increased use of apps also pose a significant risk to mobile security. Consumers use apps to input sensitive information like personal, financial and banking information. These apps will need to evolve with new technologies to continually find new ways to resist attacks and data leaks.

This threat is no longer limited to local networks, ransomware attacks remain a problem in cloud environments.

Email remains the most favored method of cybercriminals. Over 91% of attacks are initiated by email. Traditional antivirus programs cannot identify the phishing attacks employed by hackers.

Additionally, as more and more applications are moving to the cloud, malicious actors are getting better at evading detection by standard security measures and protocols. The act of distributing ransomware and holding sensitive data is on the increase as organizational data is going beyond the control of the company.

Evolving from simple malware, ransomware has become more sophisticated and efficient. Cybercriminals are now targeting the local backups, which foil the efforts of the security staff to restore encrypted data.

This threat is no longer limited to local networks, ransomware attacks remain a problem in cloud environments.

Cybercrime is a significant threat to businesses. It can lead to disruption of operations, breach of business and customer data, unauthorized access to networks, and more. The average cost of a data breach for a small-to-medium business is a staggering $149,000. On top of that, 80% of SMBs worry about becoming the target of cybercrime in the next six months.

Additionally, Cyber-Attacks remain a worry whether we are talking about the cloud or through emails.

51% of small businesses say they are not allocating any budget to cyber security.

Email remains the most favored method of cybercriminals. Over 91% of attacks are initiated by email. Traditional antivirus programs cannot identify the phishing attacks employed by hackers.

Malware can be delivered and initiated on a system without the user’s knowledge, possibly for a long time. One example of such an attack was the one dealing with the US Democratic National Party, where cybercriminals took control of their system.

There is a need to increase the pace of development for holistic solutions to cybercrime. 75% of businesses in the survey above feel they need to put more emphasis on cybercrime prevention.

However, there is a large gap between reality and expectation. Most businesses are under educated when it comes to the nuances of cybercrime. This creates an adverse situation as the organizations are not able to protect themselves from cybercriminals.

Without a plan, organizations don’t know how to react and what steps to take when their network and systems are compromised.

Here the role of managed IT service providers (MSPs) becomes crucial. MSPs can guide SMBs on the right path and help them stay protected from the increased incidents of cybercrime.

MSPs can educate clients about the need for a holistic security solution and the evolving cybercrime landscape. MSPs should also provide SMBs with a complete collection of security solutions so that they can stay protected and minimize risk.