The economic crisis caused by the pandemic has made the task of owning or managing a company difficult. Mainly for small businesses , because when there are crises, they are the most affected, after all, with 30% of the country's gross domestic product , small businesses represent a large portion of the Brazilian economy, reinforcing the importance of the class.
The scenario of uncertainty and difficulties is directly reflected in decisions to hire tools that, in a way, do not generate “profit” for the company. cybersecurity tools .
Digital security is still seen as a perfume by most small and medium-sized companies, at least until they suffer an attack . Therefore, with an unfavorable economic scenario, the last thing they will have to worry about is protecting themselves from something uncertain happening.
But anyone who thinks that way is mistaken. Avoiding cyber attacks can directly interfere with the company's revenue, taking into account repair costs, or the considerable loss of customer confidence when they are informed of the attack. In fact, the LGPD will soon be able to impose fines if companies in Brazil do not take measures to comply with the principles of security and prevention , as required by law.
Reinforcing the situation in the country, until September last year alone, there were more than 3.4 billion cyber attacks in Brazil . Numbers that could multiply in 2021.
There are countless myths and outdated or ignorant thoughts on the subject, and for this reason, I decided to debunk the main myths about cybersecurity in SMEs , which you will see in the next few lines.
1st – Only large organizations suffer cyber attacks
It's a myth!
The first of them, I believe to be the most worrying. Anyone who thinks that only large companies are targets of hackers is very mistaken. Of course, the media only reports security breaches to governments and large corporate entities, but for the simple fact that it has more viewership and engagement. However, small businesses suffer cyber attacks daily, and the attacks are based on their financial capacity.
Another important factor that deserves to be mentioned is that small companies typically have less protection, and become easier targets for digital criminals .
According to the 2020 Data Breach Cost Report , sponsored by IBM Security and conducted by the Ponemon Institute, data breaches cost an average of R$5.88 million for companies in Brazil .
“Smaller” targets tend to be more fragile in hackers’ eyes, so keeping small and medium-sized businesses safe on the internet is important .
2nd – After a cyber attack, it is possible to recover quickly, with little downtime
Another myth in the business environment, especially small and medium-sized companies.
A cyberattack can result in massive disruption to any business, large or small. Downtime will depend on the type of attack and the company's prevention policies. Furthermore, the time to resolve may depend on the professionals responsible for recovering the data or information affected by the attack. With backup tools for example, this time can be shorter.
I didn't find concrete numbers on the average time it takes a company to recover from a cyber attack, after all, this time depends on many factors. The Supreme Court of Justice, for example, took a few days to reestablish its activities .
In some cases, the recovery time will be until the ransom for the kidnapped data is paid, for example. Cases where there is no data backup and what remains is to pay digital criminals to get your company up and running again.
Therefore, do not expect that in the event of a breach of the company's internet security, just an antivirus scan will solve it.
3rd – Cybersecurity is expensive
Perhaps 10 years ago, cybersecurity was considered a high cost. Because there are few alternatives for this purpose and the vast majority of targets are large companies, the solutions to inhibit attacks were quite complex and required a high technical and financial investment.
However, there are currently several tools aimed at cybersecurity in companies. Thinking that the cost of basic security is high is a myth . The solutions and tools are adapted to business needs and sizes.
Among the basic tools for internet security for companies are:
- Backup
- Antivirus
- firewall
- Internet access control
- Business VPN
Each solution has adaptable and specific values depending on the company’s use. Furthermore, depending on the size of the company, some higher-cost tools are unnecessary due to the lower complexity of the network.
In the article How much does basic data security cost in the company? you can see more information about each solution, and of course, the prices.
4th – The responsibility for the company’s internet security lies solely with the IT professional
For a company to use technology to its advantage, solid and always available IT systems are needed to generate revenue, reputation and brand value. But, just as clearly, for the security of IT systems to be well executed, leaders need to support the decisions and suggestions of the IT sector , having 50 or 50 thousand employees connected to the company.
So, another myth!
There is no point in a manager or owner determining that the responsibility for the company's internet security lies solely with the IT professional, if, in this case, the manager did not provide him with financial or organizational support for the IT infrastructure.
It is, of course, the IT professional's duty to identify the needs for effective data security in the company and present them to management when approval for implementation is required.
The same goes for the opposite. Even if the manager identifies a need, if the IT professional vetoes it or ignores it, the company's digital security could be compromised.
What is the conclusion?
The lesson is simple : the digital security of small and medium-sized companies must be taken seriously by all managers and professionals involved, and can cause major financial damage, infrastructure, operation and reputation among their customers.
We know that SMEs have many challenges . They face continued pressure to grow and are doing so by deploying larger, skilled workforces. But beefing up cybersecurity could be worth it.
The information generated by small businesses can be the decisive factor in their growth and competitiveness in the market. When in use connected to the internet, this data needs to be protected and for this reason there are so many security systems and tools on the internet. With this in mind, we created the Internet Security Guide for Companies , which contains a wealth of extremely useful information on the topic, as well as free tools and materials for download.
Regardless of the size of your company, stay safe and protected on the internet.
Until later!
1 comment
Comments closed