It is no secret that mobile and internet security has become a hot topic as of late, since more and more companies are dealing with cyberattacks and hackers infiltrating their systems, according to USA Today. However, this new focus on online security does not have to come at such a pricey cost, but it does need to be addressed by all companies.
Thus far, this has been a major small business challenge for companies with fewer employees since they do not have the resources to be prepared with the long term consequences of a serious breach. As a result, more companies are taking advantage of basic spam filtering and data encryption. This is causing businesses a great deal of money.
"Security spending tends to be resilient in bad economic times, as bad economics typically lead to higher rates of fraud and criminal activities," Lawrence Pingree, research director of research firm Gartner, told the media outlet. "Most companies continue to enhance security measures against adaptive and more heavily targeted attacks."
The idea of scammers using spam to spread viruses isn't going away anytime soon. For instance, 82 percent of all email traffic at the beginning of this year was spam, and this number is only expected to climb. The majority of these spam emails had viruses within them, which could lead to a number of businesses to be subjected to hackers and cybercrime. As a result, small business owners always need to be aware of what type of information they are receiving, so they do not accidently allow a hacker into their system.
"The attackers are out there taking a shotgun approach, putting their malware anywhere they can," Barracuda Networks' chief research officer Paul Judge told the news source. "That's why small businesses have to care about this nowadays."
Some small business owners may feel more comfortable if they have one person managing all of the spending throughout the business, as these individuals may be able to detect if something is wrong right away.
"Knowing that you've got that piece out front gives you a bit of breathing space," Tom Lockhart, who oversees IT systems used by 150 employees, told the news outlet. "It gives you time to focus on making sure your services are available to the public during peak hours."