Don’t Believe the TV, Hackers are Jerks

According to a 2011 survey by Ponemon Research, 90% of U.S. businesses reported that their company's computers had been breached over the course of one year. Of these companies, 77% reported that they were breached multiple times within the same year. The only way to avoid this risk is to be very intentional with your company's network security.

One of the reasons that security breaches are so overwhelmingly common is because many businesses are not being vigilant enough with their network security. Maybe they think that their business is too small for a hacker to notice them, therefore, why spend the extra money on a security system? Maybe you can avoid locking the front door to your house if you live in a nice neighborhood, but on the internet, there are no neighborhoods. Even if your business is small, a hacker will still target it because of the potential treasure trove of personal and customer information that they can easily extract from a network with weak security.

Small and medium-sized businesses may not consider hackers a threat simply because of the way hackers are portrayed in the media. Hacker characters in movies and on TV often wield their skills for good, foiling the plans of terrorist and stopping alien invasions. Hacker characters are even portrayed as likeable. Their technical skills make them socially awkward in a charming sort of way, and their social groups tend to be made up of lovable IT nerds who eat frozen burritos and wear wrinkled science fiction T-shirts. Oh yes, and hacker battles, these are always fun to watch.

The media's take on the hacking world is way off. A hacker does not target a company based on a personal vendetta or business size. Real life hackers will target businesses and individuals indiscriminately, using e-mail phishing attacks, malware, and other computer viruses. The media also has it wrong when it comes to what a "hack" would look like. Your computer will not suddenly shut down with skull and crossbones displayed on your monitor. Instead, most breaches are so subtle that they go unnoticed. This secrecy allows hackers to plant a bug that will work behind the scenes feeding them your information as it is entered into your system.

The fact of the matter is that your network is at risk of a data breach from hackers, regardless of your company's size or activities. You need a technology partner with an understanding of real world security threats in order to best protect your network infrastructure. Computerware can provide you with all the protection your business will need to help keep your sensitive information out of the hands of hackers. We will even work with your company to help educate you and your staff on security best practices so that users will stay away from virus filled websites and not open e-mails containing phishing scams. An employee mistakenly falling for both of these decoys can be equivalent to accidentally handing over your network to a hacker. Call Computerware at (703) 821-8200 to learn about security solutions that are the right fit for your business, as well as internet usage policies and procedures that you can implement to protect your company's precious information.