If you’ve been following our security blog post series, or have heard of our new Vtiger security assessment, you know that cyber hackers have stolen over $740 million from small businesses since 2013. But did you know that cyber hackers could also use your business as a shielded portal to steal other businesses’ data and money?
The New York Times recently published an article from June 2016 that exposed a notorious Chinese hacking group and how it took over a small mom-and-pop business’ computer system. According to the article, many times hackers aren’t after the small business’ data, but rather hackers heavily rely on small business computer systems to convert their servers into launchpads for their attacks.
Why would hackers want my server in the first place?
Hackers go after small businesses because they usually don’t practice strong security methods. In addition, once the server is compromised, small business owners rarely discover that their computers have transformed into hacking hubs for spies and digital criminals. In fact, according to the New York Times article, Verizon said 80 percent of the time, victims learn they have been breached only when law enforcement or someone else shows up with their stolen data.
It’s the perfect cover plan — who would suspect the small mom-and-pop shop down the street in a little town?
How would my business get taken over by digital spies?
Contrary to popular belief, hackers don’t just click on an attack button and suddenly have access to your entire server. According to the New York Times article, hackers take time by doing reconnaissance. They’ll even go as far as scouting out employees on LinkedIn. They draft carefully worded emails to trick employees into opening them and clicking on links or email attachments that will try to launch malicious attacks.
Once an employee clicks on a targeted message from hackers, they use a crawling tool to search through a business’ network to find something worth taking. This process can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years.
Ninety one percent of the time, attacks start just from a click in an email, according to Trend Micro, a digital security firm.
What can I do to prevent all this?
If you don’t want your business to become the next hacking hub for giant digital criminal groups, then it’s time to take action. Lose the vulnerability of a weak server today by contacting Boru for a Vtiger security assessment.
