Small Business Means Big Business for Hackers

Think your company is too small to attract a hacker? Think again.

“Small businesses are a hacker’s dream … Hackers know that most small business owners have the ‘It won’t happen to me’ or ‘I don’t have anything that they’d want’ mentality and prey on it,” said Renee Chronister, co-owner of Parameter Security, an ethical hacking firm. “They also know that small business owners rarely invest in information technology security or integrate only minimal security measures.”

Chronister said a lack of budget for network security leaves most small businesses vulnerable to an outside attack. Most businesses only allocate 3 to 6 percent of the corporation’s budget to IT Security, she said.

“With hackers attacking every 39 seconds, you’d think that the budget would be higher,” Chronister said. “Businesses think they are invincible that because they have a firewall and an IT department, they are safe.”

Parameter Security tests for security vulnerabilities by emulating the thoughts and behaviors of malicious hackers to identify security vulnerabilities before they become real-world threats.

“Once inside your network, hackers have complete control and can watch you type in real-time, turn on your webcam and/or microphone, access your passwords, turn off your virus protection and shut down your desktop,” said Chronister.

Dave Shores, vice president-operations of First Advantage Bank in St. Charles, [Missouri,]said the banking industry has to be extremely cognizant of the possible security threats.

“Banks need to be especially conscious of customer identification and information is always secure,” said Shores. “We need to make sure we comply with every regulatory requirement and make sure we don’t decimate customer information.”

First Advantage Bank utilized a network penetration audit to make sure its network was really as secure as they thought it was.

“Network security audits emulate a real-world attack, where ethical hackers hack your network to exploit your vulnerabilities,” said Chronister….