Sitting Ducks: Are You Leaving Your Business Open for Attack?

There have been some hugely publicized attacks on big brands over the years – some high-profile cases include the World Health Organization (WHO), Marriott Hotels and, most recently, T-Mobile. There is an alarming increase in the number of daily cyber-attack attempts and business security is top of mind.

The question is, why have businesses become sitting ducks, so to speak? Below, we will explore the numerous business vulnerabilities and why they’re a prime target for cybercriminals.

Vast Amounts of Data

When exploring the reasons behind why businesses, big or small, are technically sitting ducks for a cyber-attack, the vast amounts of data stored gets brought into question. Naturally, a cybercriminal is much more interested in the value of the data a business holds rather than trying to get into your Facebook account (even though 553 million Facebook accounts have been hacked).

The value of data is the primary reason why a cybercriminal would target a business. Businesses handling any financial transaction will typically store names, addresses, card details – everything a criminal needs to commit identity fraud or bank fraud. So, yes, businesses are sitting ducks in that respect. That coupled with the fact that account holders aren’t always savvy when it comes to vulnerable passwords creates a dream scenario for hackers – although password weaknesses aren’t the only reason they infiltrate.

There are numerous preventative measures a business can take to protect data security. Security software is the most simple and often effective method. Additionally, it’s essential to keep up to date with security software updates. Outdated security software can be just as much of a risk.

Businesses should also prompt customers to create strong passwords containing a mixture of numbers, letters, special symbols and neglect creating a password with words that make sense. For example, the password Orange123 is weak, Or4ng3-132 is strong.

Software Application Vulnerabilities

A business can create iron-clad policies, and customers create nonsensical passwords, but that’s only covering two bases. Studies show that software application vulnerabilities account for 43% of data breaches – mainly down to the fact up to 80% of codebases are created using open source coding.

Open source coding is hugely popular because it gives businesses the chance to purchase coding that can be customized to their unique business needs, and it’s widely accessible. The coding is created collaboratively amongst a group of — most of the time — professional developers looking to sell their software creation to the masses, but there are weaknesses. That’s why the shift left testing approach is now widely used by many DevOps teams – adopting a testing method that happens early and often rather than waiting.

Testing early and often is one solution that works well when used alongside other vulnerability management tools, such as quarterly vulnerability checks to identify any weaknesses in software applications. Proprietary software applications are somewhat safer. But for small to medium businesses with a smaller budget, open source software is often the best option.

The Danger of Being a Small-Medium Sized Businesses

Yes, big businesses are also sitting ducks because they are the ones with mass amounts of data. Yet, it’s small to medium brands that are the most vulnerable to cyber-attacks. 43% of cyber-attacks happen on small businesses each year, and 60% of those go out of business within six months – according to the U.S. National Cyber Security Alliance. That’s because the result of a serious data breach costs small-medium companies $2.2 million per year.

Cybercriminals know it’s much easier to exploit the weaknesses of a small-medium business. For one, they know that small businesses are more likely to use cheap software applications with security loopholes. And two, they’re aware that smaller businesses are often a great way in, making it easier to access bigger businesses with more robust cybersecurity systems.

There are simple things a small-medium business can do to prevent an attack. Employee education on data usage and sending/receiving information is essential, and so is backing up data so that it’s easy to recover lost data. Investing in top-level security software also pays off.

Rogue Ex-Employees

Rogue ex-employees are not always the first to come up in a list of reasons, and that’s why they’ve made this list. There are countless examples of rogue ex-employees becoming a security issue. All a business has to do is leave an employee log-in open and with access to the data for a data breach to potentially happen.

In 2021 alone, a police officer was convicted of sharing information on the dark web, and a data leak at Radboudumc Hospital occurred due to a former employee. Ex-employees sometimes have malicious intentions. Try and ensure that policies are in place within the contract any employee should sign to prevent this, such as an NDA. If an employee leaves, wipe their access and change any passwords they had access to. Passwords, as a rule, should be changed monthly anyway.

Ensure your business security

Businesses are under constant threat from cybercriminals. The vast amount of data and multiple weaknesses leads to vulnerabilities that can be hard to manage. However, the advancement in vulnerability management tools and security software means many of these attacks are prevented.

Waqas S

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You herein acknowledge, understand and agree that all of the American Publishing, LLC trademarks, copyright, trade name, service marks, and other American Publishing, LLC logos and any brand features, and/or product and service names are trademarks and as such, are and shall remain the property of American Publishing, LLC. You herein agree not to display and/or use in any manner the American Publishing, LLC logo or marks.

COPYRIGHT OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT CLAIMS NOTICE
& PROCEDURES
American Publishing, LLC will always respect the intellectual property of others, and we ask that all of our users to the same. With regards to appropriate circumstances and at its sole discretion, American Publishing, LLC may disable and/or terminate the accounts of any user who repeatedly violates our TOS and/or infringes the rights of others. If you feel that your work has been duplicated in such a way that would constitute copyright infringement, or if you believe your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, you should provide to us the following information:
a) The electronic or the physical signature of the individual that is authorized on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest;
b) A description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you believe has been
infringed upon;
c) A description of the location of the site which you allege has been infringing upon your work;
d) The physical address, telephone number, and email address;
e) A statement, in which you state that the alleged and disputed use of your work is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agents or the law;
f) And finally, a statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the aforementioned information in your notice is the truth and accurate, and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner, representative or agent authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner’s behalf. The American Publishing, LLC Agent for notice of claims of copyright or other intellectual property infringement can be contacted as follows:
Mailing Address:
American Publishing, LLC
Attn: Copyright Agent
17 Hoff Court, Suite B
Baltimore, Maryland 21221
Telephone: 443.231.7438
Fax: 410.238.2835
Email: karen.austin@uscybersecurity.net
CLOSED CAPTIONING
BE IT KNOWN, that American Publishing, LLC complies with all applicable Federal Communications Commission rules and regulations regarding the closed captioning of video content. For more information, please visit our website at www.uscybersecurity.net.

GENERAL INFORMATION
ENTIRE AGREEMENT
This TOS constitutes the entire agreement between you and American Publishing, LLC and shall govern the use of our Services, superseding any prior version of this TOS between you and us with respect to American Publishing, LLC Services. You may also be subject to additional terms and conditions that may apply when you use or purchase certain other American Publishing, LLC Services, affiliate Services, third-party content or third-party software.

CHOICE OF LAW AND FORUM
It is at the mutual agreement of both you and American Publishing, LLC with regard to the TOS that the relationship between the parties shall be governed by the laws of the state of Maryland without regard to its conflict of law provisions and that any and all claims, causes of action and/or disputes, arising out of or relating to the TOS, or the relationship between you and American Publishing, LLC, shall be filed within the courts having jurisdiction within the County of Baltimore, Maryland or the U.S. District Court located in said state. You and American Publishing, LLC agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the courts as previously mentioned, and agree to waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over the parties by such courts and to venue in such courts.

WAIVER AND SEVERABILITY OF TERMS
At any time, should American Publishing, LLC fail to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the TOS, such failure shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of this TOS is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties’ intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the TOS remain in full force and effect.

NO RIGHT OF SURVIVORSHIP NON-TRANSFERABILITY
You acknowledge, understand and agree that your account is non-transferable and any rights to your ID and/or contents within your account shall terminate upon your death. Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate, your account may be terminated and all contents therein permanently deleted.

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
You acknowledge, understand and agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, any claim or action arising out of or related to the use of our Services or the TOS must be filed within year(s) after said claim or cause of action arose or shall be forever barred.

VIOLATIONS
Please report any and all violations of this TOS to American Publishing, LLC as follows:
Mailing Address:
American Publishing, LLC
Attn: Copyright Agent
17 Hoff Court, Suite B
Baltimore, Maryland 21221
Telephone: 443.231.7438
Fax: 410.238.2835
Email: karen.austin@uscybersecurity.net

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