Is Your Business Appealing to Hackers?

You may think that just because you are a small and local company that hackers won’t want to waste their time on you. Wouldn’t a hacker prefer to go after a large corporation? If your business has poor network security, then your company is more appealing to hackers then even the biggest banks.

It’s not that hackers don’t want to crack the codes of Fort Knox and download all the gold; it’s more like hackers prefer a sure thing and will go after the easiest targets. You can compare network security to low-hanging fruit. Hackers tend to pick the lowest fruit on the tree, even though the best fruit may be towards the top. Simply put; it’s easier to just grab a piece of fruit that’s within reach (poor network security), rather than dragging out the ladder and start climbing (strong network security).

When we talk about low hanging computer fruit, we are not talking about Apple computers; we are referring to a network that is not secure. Is your network low-hanging on the Internet fruit tree? To help you find out, here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Are you using older software that is no longer being supported by security updates?
• Has it been forever and a day since you last performed a security update?
• Do you have your firewall settings on low?
• Is your business using free consumer-grade antivirus software?
• Do you think that “Encryption” is the name of the new Christopher Nolan movie?

Thinking about our fruit tree, the low-hanging fruit, and even the fruit on the ground for that matter, is still valuable. You may not be the biggest business with the most resources to steal, but the sensitive data stored in your servers are still valuable to hackers. Even if a hacker breaches your network only to discover that the coffers are empty, they will still find value in getting their hands on the personal and account information on you, your employees, and your customers. If this data is leaked, a hacker will then have easy access to all of these accounts and going after the low-hanging fruit would have been worth it.

The better your network security is, the higher your company is on the proverbial fruit tree, and the less desirable you will be to hackers. If you are unsure about how big of a hacking target your business is, then give Computerware a call at (703) 821-8200. We can use our networking tools to go into your system and discover your security risks and vulnerabilities. We will then go over with you our security solutions, like our Unified Threat Manager that will strengthen your firewall and ensure only the people you want can access your files. With network security solutions from Computerware, your company can have the most appetizing fruit on the Internet tree, yet be high enough that a hacker will not want to even go for it!