Did you know that more than 43% of all cybersecurity threats are directed to small businesses? Did you also know that it takes some businesses on average 197 days to detect that their servers have been hacked?
These statistics paint a frightening picture. Cybercrime is slowly becoming one of the most dangerous criminal activities in the world. According to billionaire Warren Buffet, cybersecurity attacks are becoming “the number one problem with mankind”.
Understanding digital security
Cyber breaches can be extremely expensive. It’s been estimated that a single data breach may cost a business up to two trillion by 2019. Businesses that don’t proactively invest in cybersecurity technology may find themselves at the mercy of anti-social elements.
Taking the right protective measures starts with understanding what cybersecurity and cyber crimes entail. When we talk about a threat to cybersecurity (or a cybercrime), we refer to all activities that are carried on the internet, with the use of a computer. There are various types of cyber crimes and cyber threats that are conducted on the internet, including:
- Hacking of internal servers
- Phishing for sensitive information like credit card numbers, address, phone number, etc.
- Malware and ransomware attacks
- SQL injection attack to get information from databases
- Cross-site scripting attack to get information from website visitor/user’s personal systems
- Denial-of-service attacks to forcefully shut down a user’s website/system
- Hijacking of session ID and forcefully controlling the interaction between two parties online
- Stealing passwords and usernames
Why is cyber security so important to businesses?
As a business owner, you make your digital ecosystem easy to use and easy to control for your users. While you’re making your digital ecosystem convenient for genuine customers, you’re also making your sites easier to hack.
Your customers use their credit cards to make payments, upload photos of themselves for contact forms and fill in details about their residential/work address, phone number and more when making online purchases. This information gets stored in your systems. When hacked, this information gets compromised. Not just customer data, but your online books of accounts, confidential business documents and prototypes of new products also become susceptible to cyber-attacks and theft.
Cybercrimes lead to data breaches and privacy breaches. It is the duty of all businesses to keep customer and organizational information safe from attack. In light of new compliance regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it becomes even more essential that businesses implement cybersecurity measures, as the penalty for not following the right protocols can go into the millions. Additionally, imagine the loss of goodwill and the reduction in sales you will face, if you fail to protect your customers and their data.
If businesses wish to retain their privacy and protect the privacy of their customers, they need to implement cybersecurity solutions to keep their digital ecosystem safe.
5 ways to protect your digital ecosystem from harm
- Select a decent CMS platform – set it up correctly and maintain it
Most businesses build their digital ecosystems on CMS platforms. When making a choice, be sure to understand the available security features and the backend cybersecurity support you will receive from your CMS platform and digital support team.
Your clients will be uploading sensitive financial and personal data that may become available to criminals if your CMS systems have poor security. Selecting a platform that comes with multiple safety features is a good start towards making your digital ecosystem a little safer. Perhaps more important is to work with a team who understand digital security and how to configure a web server and CMS for best security practices.
- Implement safe connections and channels
Cryptographic protocols like SSL and TLS provide a layer of security to the computer networks, connections and channels businesses use for operation. Say you’re operating an e-wallet or a payment gateway. Implementing SSL and TLS protocols will provide additional security to the financial transactions that take place on your website. Using these you can prevent financial fraud and data theft.
- Put in place strong authentication protocols
From two-factor authentication to log-in alerts and notifications, there are many things you could do, to help protect your customer’s data. Utilising passkeys and strong passwords in the backend is another way to ensure that there aren’t any holes in your operational cybersecurity.
You should also consider setting up notifications for multiple orders and monitor accounts that engage in suspicious buying behaviour.
- Conduct scheduled PCI DSS scans
Australian cyber security rules state that businesses must become Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant and PCI accredited if they wish to conduct business online. This involves regular security activities across various tests and scans to ensure that cardholder transactions are legitimate and the networks on which the payments take place are monitored and safe.
- Seek assistance from specialised cybersecurity service providers
DDoS protection, data mitigation and fraud management are some of the services you need to procure to protect your digital ecosystem from the prying eyes of cybercriminals.
Implementing these services will keep your customers safe, protect their data and will safeguard your internal systems, servers, software and databases.
At Liquid Digital we can help you set up and secure a digital ecosystem that’s perfectly suited for your business. If you’d like more information about the services we offer, feel free to reach out to a member of our team.
