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Small Business Network Intrusions

Big Problems for Small Businesses

By Conrad Sallian, Remote Utilities

These days, it seems that every time you turn on the radio, click over to your favorite news
channel, or even load your Facebook profile, you’ll see news about a major company reporting
a network intrusion. Home Depot and Target are among some of the recent victims, but if you
think that hackers aren’t interested in a company just because it’s relatively small, think again.

What Is a Network Intrusion?

Whenever you are involved in any kind of transaction at all, whether you are swiping a
customer’s credit card or handing your card over to a merchant, bits of data make their way onto
the information superhighway and are likely stored in some sort of database on a server that is
located on site or on the cloud. This data allows businesses and banks to communicate, and it
is designed to be encrypted in such a way that it is completely protected from prying eyes.
However, there are hackers working around the clock who want access to these networks for
various reasons.

In some cases, hackers may want access to a network for the sole purpose of accessing a
business’s bank account. Once they have that information, they might make a series of
moderate purchases that they hope will go unnoticed, or they may go so far as to steal tens or
hundreds of thousands. Sometimes, though, hacking becomes even more problematic, such as
when the thieves want access to sensitive customer data. At this point, multiple cases of identity
theft become a huge concern.

Why Does It Happen?

Whenever there is money exchanging hands, or whenever there is personal information
available that could allow someone to commit fraud, network intrusion is a concern. There are
numerous security and privacy programs out there designed to keep a network safe, but teams
of criminals work around the clock to come up with ways to get through firewalls or to get past
other safety measures that have been put into place. In some cases, it seems as if breaches
occur almost as quickly as safeguards can be put into place to stop them.

Statistically speaking, a study of more than 1000 small businesses performed by the internet
security company Symantec and the NCSA, or National Cyber Security Alliance, found that
almost 80% of small businesses failed to put written employee policies regarding internet
security into place. What’s more, 50% of the surveyed business owners admitted that they did
not even have an informal, unwritten policy in place. The owners of small businesses have a
false sense of security and feel that hackers or criminals are not interested in their networks.

16 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – October 2014 Edition
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