\u201cCybersecurity\u201d \u2013 Yes, it can be complicated. With various (and nefarious) things going on all the time, and it can be hard for businesses to keep in mind everything they need to do to be protected. We have identified five trends that are affecting businesses, directly or indirectly, at a formidable level. Businesses have to consider, and prepare for, these trends.<\/p>\n
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Malicious software is the most well known threats to data safety. Everyone has heard of it, but not everyone is aware of the amount of malicious software out there in the wild. Kaspersky Lab detects over 325,000 new malware samples on a daily basis<\/a>, and it\u2019s the scale that should not be ignored. Also not to be ignored, the fact that there is malware for all platforms, both PC and mobile, and the fact that some environments such as Windows or Android are attacked most frequently, while the others \u2013 Mac OS X<\/a>, Linux<\/a>, iOS \u2013 less so. Unfortunately, that doesn\u2019t make the latter invulnerable.<\/p>\n These attacks are launched against a specific target. Your company, perhaps. But, why? There are two reasons: either to steal something or to meddle with your work, making it next to impossible for you to do your job. There are lots of tools to launch such attacks. Perhaps, you may think it has nothing to do with you? Sorry, but you are wrong.<\/a> Businesses of all sizes become victims of these attacks, which are typically cheap to launch, but they can be extremely damaging<\/a>. For that reason, it\u2019s not uncommon for them to be used as a weapon of competition. And it is very difficult to hold anyone accountable for such attacks.<\/p>\n Yes, dealing with all of the aspects of tech is a real chore. Things get more complicated every five years. There were just PCs and traditional websites in the late 1990s, and now there are various tech terms \u2013 \u201csocial networks\u201d, \u201cblogs\u201d, \u201cclouds\u201d, you name it. Your IT guy says using the \u201ccloud\u201d can cut your site\u2019s costs? Great! Your marketing pro says that you need to \u201cestablish a presence\u201d on every social network to see what people think of you? Well, okay. But now it also means that aside from caring about the PCs in your office and the mobile devices of your employees, you have to consider what happens if your business\u2019 Facebook page is compromised<\/a>, or your cloud provider reliability fails<\/a> to live up to your expectations.<\/p>\n Yet another complex trend: in the name of technological advancements \u2013 and marketing too \u2013 both hardware and software are becoming obsolete at an increasing rate. Not everyone feels comfortable with this: People tend to cling to the things they\u2019ve gotten used to. That\u2019s the reason for the epic longevity of the now 14-years-old Windows XP<\/a> \u2013 despite the fact that support terminated in April 2014, it is still widely in use<\/a>. For as long as it is usable, many people will not spend money on newer versions of Windows. And even if there are resources, sometimes it\u2019s not that easy to switch to something newer all at once.<\/p>\n Our recommendation is, of course, to update as much as possible. The \u201ctried and true\u201d approach doesn\u2019t always work with IT: the newer tech and software are more secure as a rule, while the older products are susceptible to flaws and errors, sometimes really formidable ones.<\/a><\/p>\n Note: Regarding Windows XP, Kaspersky Lab\u2019s products are still supporting it<\/a>, and will continue to do so until 2016.<\/p>\n That\u2019s correct: a large portion of payment transactions are made electronically, via bank websites and payment services such as PayPal. But it is a human who inputs the information necessary for the payment on his or her PC or mobile device.<\/p>\n And this creates an issue for keeping the device protected from all attempts of intercepting that data \u2013 credentials, one-time passwords banks\u2019 sites send to a mobile device for extra security, etc. And there are many malicious tools for doing this, which need to be countered.<\/p>\n Eventually we\u2019ll see all these trends create their own additional risks of compromising data safety. That means IT security solutions are a necessity \u2013 they will allow businesses to address all these issues and minimize the risks.<\/p>\n If you want to know more about IT security for small business, you are welcome to read our earlier posts<\/a> dedicated to this topic. Also, specifically for small businesses, we have a solution called Kaspersky Small Office Security that is easy to install, configure and run, while providing a business-level protection against cyberthreats.<\/p>\nTargeted attacks<\/h4>\n
Overall complexity of the technology<\/h4>\n
Hardware and software become obsolete faster than desirable<\/h4>\n
All money via Web<\/h4>\n
Staying protected<\/h4>\n