Cybersecurity for small businesses

Cybersecurity for small businesses 

Living in the age of the Internet of Things, our information lives online and businesses regularly conduct transactions online. This leaves data at risk of cyber attacks and to be used against Internet users. Vulnerability is exploited, especially for small businesses. According to IBC Canada: 1/5 of businesses have been affected by a cyberattack or data breach in the last 2 years and according to the National Cyber Security Alliance, approximately 60% of small businesses that suffer breaches will go out of business within the year. It’s more important now than ever for small businesses to take the proper measures to ensure the safety of their customers’ data and to prevent any cyber instances from happening.  

What is cybersecurity

These days, cybersecurity is characterized by three major fundamental challenges: increasingly complex enterprise networks, connected infrastructure, and the faster pace at which new attacks emerge.

Cyber-attacks in the insurance sector are growing exponentially as insurance companies migrate toward new technologies in an effort to create tighter customer relationships, offer new products and expand their business. Expanding networks and continuous deployments of new technologies- from legacy local infrastructure to cloud-based service has not only to help to grow our business but also expanded the attack surface and introduced new entry points for malicious attackers to exploit.

The psychology of a cyberattack

Society is wired for instant gratification and humans trust even though they shouldn’t. Companies try to make online processes such as filling out forms seamless, but at what expense does this come at? Employees are vulnerable and organizations can benefit by bringing the issue to the forefront amongst its communities.  Employees may make the mistake of clicking on the links from unknown senders and calling back unfamiliar numbers. There’s a psychology behind the cyberattack, and we have to think like a hacker to stop them. Fostering cyberculture is key to security. 

Do you have cyber insurance with your provider for business insurance?

Make sure your small business is set up for cyber insurance. Learn what’s covered, how much, and what’s not included. Here are some questions that may assist you on your way to fulfilling cybersecurity for your business.

1)      Who will be in charge to make decisions in the event of a breach?

2)      What sensitive data or personal information does the organization have access to?

4)      In the event of an attack, is there a backup means of communicating with customers? 

Some additional security measures that all businesses should take include: 

• Secure architecture and design

• Secure boundary defenses

• Secure access and authentication

• Secure configuration

• Malware protection

• Secure maintenance and monitoring

At Surex

 At Surex, we protect customers’ data and ensure the safety of personal information is 100% protected. Here at Surex, we have and are taking measures at all levels, from the smallest details such as educating our users periodically on how to secure company data to the high-level details such as using state of the art security appliance within our local networks and cloud infrastructure.

As a first step into ensuring that we protect our customer information, we ensure that all client information originating from Canada is stored within Canada locally and our cloud infrastructure. Our local network has an intrusion detection system (IDS) and intrusion prevention system (IPS). In an effort to ensure we are secure locally, we carry out penetration testing regularly and are working with third party computer to further carry out these testing so as to find weak entry points in our network and fix them.

We also have invested a lot working on our cloud infrastructure on Amazon Web Services (AWS), wherein we host our website. We are currently working on partnering with other Security firms to tighten our network, which is in addition to the inherent security of AWS.

 In conclusion

Companies have the tools to stop getting things from getting out of hand. Taking collective responsibility and proper training can help us fill the gap in knowledge in the cybersecurity space. 

 Learn more about getting your business setup with insurance.