{"id":41664,"date":"2021-06-14T17:45:24","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T21:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/?p=41664"},"modified":"2021-06-14T17:45:25","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T21:45:25","slug":"top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 4 Cyber Security Threats To Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It&#8217;s a fact that businesses of all kinds face <a href=\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2019\/benefits-working-cybersecurity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cybersecurity<\/a> threats once they have dealings online. However, there is this misconception among small business owners that their companies are too small to be targeted. And because small startups often invest less in cybersecurity, attackers take advantage of their lack of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bobsbusiness.co.uk\/cyber-awareness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cyber security awareness<\/a> to plot nefarious activities.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, the 2017 Equifax breach managed to compromise the personal info of 143 million customers. 2018 saw Marriott International fall victim to hackers who were able to steal the data of some 500 million consumers. In both situations, it emerged that the vulnerabilities had a lot to do with the companies\u2019 failure to implement essential cybersecurity solutions such as firewalls, encryption, and multiple-factor authentication. On that note, here are the top four most common cyber security threats to businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. <strong>Phishing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/infinigeek.com\/are-you-receiving-suspicious-emails\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/infinigeek.com\/assets\/How-to-avoid-spam-and-minimize-graymail-710x321.jpg\" alt=\"\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 710px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 710\/321;\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Are You Receiving Suspicious Emails?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Undoubtedly, phishing is among the most widespread and dangerous cybersecurity challenges confronting businesses today. These well-plotted attacks account for a whopping <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/expertinsights.com\/insights\/the-top-5-biggest-cyber-security-threats-that-small-businesses-face-and-how-to-stop-them\/\" target=\"_blank\">90%<\/a> of all breaches that business organizations face, growing by 65% compared to the previous year. Phishing attacks have led to $12 billion losses in business revenues. But how do they occur?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The attacker pretends to be a trusted individual who tricks their victim into clicking a malicious link or downloading a file that would steal their private information. Recent reports suggest that companies with less than 500 workers lose roughly $2.5 million per attack. This massive financial loss in cyber-breaches hurts growth as the reputation of the company could be severely impacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. <strong>Denial of service<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/infinigeek.com\/final-nightmare-online-gaming-never-ending-ddos-threat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/infinigeek.com\/assets\/DDoS-threat-2-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/683;\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Final Nightmare: Online Gaming And The Never-ending DDoS Threat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This form of cyber-attack aims to flood a computer system or network with numerous requests that render it unresponsive. A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack works similarly to a computer network attack. Attackers try to disrupt the \u201chandshake\u201d process in an attempt to execute a DoS attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They can take advantage of the downtime of a network to carry out their operation. A botnet is a form of <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinedegrees.und.edu\/blog\/types-of-cyber-security-threats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DDoS attack<\/a> that involves a hacker infecting millions of systems with malware. Also termed zombie systems, botnets overwhelm the target\u2019s processing ability, and they can be spread in multiple locations worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. <strong>Password attacks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/forbestechcouncil\/2020\/10\/19\/cybersecurity-and-your-passwords\/?sh=3e5a6b7f3732\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/Cybersecurity-And-Your-Passwords.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41667 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/Cybersecurity-And-Your-Passwords.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/Cybersecurity-And-Your-Passwords-768x512.jpg 768w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 960px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 960\/640;\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Cybersecurity And Your Passwords<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Many IT experts see passwords as the most significant security loophole. If a hacker can guess one password correctly, they could potentially harvest a vast wealth of information. Today\u2019s hackers use what\u2019s called social engineering to improve their ability to break standard security practices.&nbsp; Your password may not be as secure as you think, so be sure to change it with time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. <strong>Man in the Middle (MITM)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.darkreading.com\/edge\/theedge\/security-101-what-is-a-man-in-the-middle-attack\/b\/d-id\/1336570\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"602\" height=\"250\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/Security-101-What-Is-a-Man-in-the-Middle-Attack.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-41666 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 602px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 602\/250;\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Security 101: What Is a Man-in-the-Middle Attack?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>MITM attacks happen when a hacker intercepts a two-party transaction. By disrupting the network, they can make away with data, Cisco suggests. This can happen when you use unsecured public WiFi &#8211; attackers can plant themselves in the middle of the network and use malware to steal sensitive data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No matter the phase your business is in, security of all kinds is necessary. Hopefully, this article has convinced you enough to take cyber security, in particular, seriously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s a fact that businesses of all kinds face cybersecurity threats once they have dealings online. However, there is this misconception among small business owners that their companies are too<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,5695,1],"tags":[5891,7846,6020,14355,11173,988,14358,14357,14356,12721,1492,14072,5879,21],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Top 4 Cyber Security Threats To Businesses<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It&#039;s a fact that businesses of all kinds face cybersecurity threats once they have dealings online. However, there is this misconception among small\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top 4 Cyber Security Threats To Businesses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It&#039;s a fact that businesses of all kinds face cybersecurity threats once they have dealings online. However, there is this misconception among small\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daily Business Resources for Entrepreneurs, Web Designers, &amp; Creatives by Andy Sowards\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/andysowardsfan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-14T21:45:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-14T21:45:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/Cybersecurity-And-Your-Passwords.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andy Sowards\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@andysowards\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@andysowards\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andy Sowards\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/\",\"name\":\"Top 4 Cyber Security Threats To Businesses\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/Cybersecurity-And-Your-Passwords.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-14T21:45:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-14T21:45:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2e0f72bd7f6497fd883e2bd67d9f3415\"},\"description\":\"It's a fact that businesses of all kinds face cybersecurity threats once they have dealings online. However, there is this misconception among small\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/Cybersecurity-And-Your-Passwords.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/Cybersecurity-And-Your-Passwords.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":640},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Top 4 Cyber Security Threats To Businesses\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Daily Business Resources for Entrepreneurs, Web Designers, &amp; Creatives by Andy Sowards\",\"description\":\"Design Inspiration &amp; Business Resources for Creatives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2e0f72bd7f6497fd883e2bd67d9f3415\",\"name\":\"Andy Sowards\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/15f95b011563b5894883b22bd4b32d59?s=96&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/15f95b011563b5894883b22bd4b32d59?s=96&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Andy Sowards\"},\"description\":\"Im a professional Freelancer specializing in Web Developer, Design, Programming web applications. Im an Avid member of the Design\/Development community and a Serial Blogger. follow me on Twitter @AndySowards\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Top 4 Cyber Security Threats To Businesses","description":"It's a fact that businesses of all kinds face cybersecurity threats once they have dealings online. However, there is this misconception among small","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Top 4 Cyber Security Threats To Businesses","og_description":"It's a fact that businesses of all kinds face cybersecurity threats once they have dealings online. However, there is this misconception among small","og_url":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/","og_site_name":"Daily Business Resources for Entrepreneurs, Web Designers, &amp; Creatives by Andy Sowards","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/andysowardsfan","article_published_time":"2021-06-14T21:45:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-14T21:45:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/Cybersecurity-And-Your-Passwords.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Andy Sowards","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@andysowards","twitter_site":"@andysowards","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andy Sowards","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/","url":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/","name":"Top 4 Cyber Security Threats To Businesses","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/Cybersecurity-And-Your-Passwords.jpg","datePublished":"2021-06-14T21:45:24+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-14T21:45:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2e0f72bd7f6497fd883e2bd67d9f3415"},"description":"It's a fact that businesses of all kinds face cybersecurity threats once they have dealings online. However, there is this misconception among small","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/Cybersecurity-And-Your-Passwords.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/assets\/Cybersecurity-And-Your-Passwords.jpg","width":960,"height":640},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2021\/top-4-cyber-security-threats-to-businesses\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Top 4 Cyber Security Threats To Businesses"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/","name":"Daily Business Resources for Entrepreneurs, Web Designers, &amp; Creatives by Andy Sowards","description":"Design Inspiration &amp; Business Resources for Creatives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2e0f72bd7f6497fd883e2bd67d9f3415","name":"Andy Sowards","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/15f95b011563b5894883b22bd4b32d59?s=96&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/15f95b011563b5894883b22bd4b32d59?s=96&r=pg","caption":"Andy Sowards"},"description":"Im a professional Freelancer specializing in Web Developer, Design, Programming web applications. Im an Avid member of the Design\/Development community and a Serial Blogger. follow me on Twitter @AndySowards","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.andysowards.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41668,"href":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41664\/revisions\/41668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}