Why You Should Invest in Cyber Security
While the Internet is a great equalizer, allowing global expansion of businesses without the need to invest a lot of money, it has its risks, too. Companies of all sizes must concern themselves with cyber security to protect themselves. In fact, two thirds of companies claim cyber security is needed. If your business were to suffer an attack, the financial losses could be devastating.
Different Methods of Attack
Even if you can be certain that none of your employees will fall for a phishing scam, you’re not safe from cyber-attacks. There are at least 8 different ways for cyber criminals to attack your company without reinventing the wheel. These include malware, password attacks, and drive-by downloads. Modern cyber criminals can steal your information, hack into your system, release a worm or virus onto your network, or derail your website just through having one of your employees click one unsecured link. While your business probably invests in security software for your computers and networks, that’s not going to protect you from DDoS attacks.
Everything Is Online
Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, make your machine or network resources unavailable by attacking it from many different IP addresses. During this type of attack, a cyber-criminal sends fake or malicious traffic to your web servers by activating an army of bots. As a result, your site becomes overwhelmed with traffic and cannot serve legitimate users of your site. With over 86 percent of business affected, DDoS attacks are a big concern for many.
Financial Losses Could Be Enormous
If your website is your main source of leads or income, then the financial losses could be enormous even if the site is only down temporarily. If someone can’t get to your site to purchase from you, they might go to a competitor instead. If you’re running advertising to direct traffic to your site and these users can’t get there, then you’ve suffered additional losses, too.
If your web presence is hijacked for a longer period of time, you could also suffer some long-term brand damage. When a site is frequently unavailable, even your biggest fans will start doubting your ability to serve them well. Finally, dealing with cyber-attacks will divert your resources away from other projects that are critical to your company’s success.
You’re the Next Victim
If you haven’t heard about cyber-attacks in the last few years, you haven’t been paying attention. The number and severity of attacks are constantly increasing, and there’s no reason to assume this trend will abate anytime soon. When asked, 82 percent of business owners think that a DDoS attack is likely or even certain. Yet not all of them take action to increase their cyber security. There are two reasons for this: overconfidence and denial.
Overconfidence affects many different situations in life involving risk. You may not get a burglar alarm if you don’t think your house will become a target. Taking the same approach to cybercrime is problematic because there is virtually no limit to how many businesses can become a target. If you don’t have the processes in place to stop this kind of attack, then you need to take action.
Hiring Takes Time
It’s not easy to find the right employees to combat your cyber security problems, especially if you’re running a small company. Cyber security experts are highly trained professionals who understand the intricacies of code, but they must also anticipate where an attack might occur. If it’s difficult for state governments to find qualified people even though they can offer decent salary and benefits packages, you know it’s going to be just as hard for your company.
If you want to improve your chances of finding the best cyber security staff, you must be willing to offer a generous salary. Otherwise, you’ll only be able to attract entry-level candidates. Even if you get someone who’s good at what they’ll do, they’ll leave your company for greener pastures, and you’ll have to start your search all over again.
At CDNetworks, we offer cloud-based DDoS protection. Our expertise is identifying attacks automatically, alerting you when websites are under attack and absorbing the traffic generated through the attack. This keeps your website up and running and limits potential losses for your business. We have been supporting international businesses since 2000, offering cloud security and instant delivery of web content around the globe. We advise you to take action and protect your business from DDoS attacks by getting in touch with one of our experts right now.
