Why 2022 could be a bad cybersecurity year for SME’s

Posted on 12/01/202007/03/2022 by Roger Smith

SME’s are a prime target for cybercrime.

They have reduced expertise, minimal money, and an attitude, we are too small to be a target, that leaves them wide open to a cyber event.

Our industry, the people who know and think we understand the bad guys have been pushing for an attitude change for the last 10 years. In a large number of ways, we have failed, especially in the SME space.

In some, we have failed significantly.

By the time we get called in, after a cyber event, it is way too late.

To late to recover, too late to respond and definitely too late, in a number of organisations, to get back to business as normal.

Most SMEs, after a cyber event and especially after a ransomware attack, have but 3 choices,

pay the ransom,
recover from backup and hope you have a decent backup (a decent, tested backup is vital, no matter the situation)
or go out of business.

Here are 3 cybersecurity strategies that every SME should implement to be more secure and avoid that devastating cyber event.

Training users

Increased awareness of business security in a workplace is vital in today’s business world.

Not many businesses know where to go to get that training.

Training needs to be done as an ongoing process.

Once or twice a year is inadequate. But training and education has to be easy, bite-size pieces, easily digested, easily implemented and easily followed.

In addition to ongoing training, you also need to incorporate business security into your onboarding process to instill the required cultural elements into new people on staff.

Want some free cybersecurity training, here is something that will definitely help
https://wizer-training.com/partner/caremit

Risk management and gap analysis

SME’s have a limited understanding of the new risks delivered to the business via our digital components.

The game has changed significantly in the last 10 years and we, as small and medium businesses, are constantly playing catch-up.

We are significantly hampered and handicapped by the impact and scale of our digital usage.

It is everywhere, used in every component and used all of the time.

To understand the risks without understanding the systems you need some help.

Here is some help for you.
Https://CareMIT.scoreapp.com

With the report, you can now implement a gap analysis and work out what you need to do to increase security around your organisation.

The report also ties in well with:

Implemented a framework

If you are looking for a better way to manage security within your Organisation, you need to look no further than a framework.

A framework is a documented system that allows an organisation to follow the bouncing ball and tighten up the security in a regimented way.

The more the components of the framework are implemented the more secure and mature the organisation.

Frameworks are easy to follow and implement and the one I recommend is the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cybersecurity framework.
https://www.nist.gov/cyberframework

Answer the 98 questions, honestly, and you now have a road map to implement cybersecurity in a significant way.

The NIST cybersecurity framework also gives you a number.

Between 0 – 4, it can be used as a comparison between businesses, supply chain components, and government departments so you can do business with like-minded organisations.

What can SME’s do?

It is not too late to implement any of these strategies. The bad guys are getting more and more clever, so time is running out.

They are targeting everyone who is connected to the digital world, the internet, with more sophisticated systems, a number of them are now fully automated.

Some of those automated systems have minimal human involvement after the initial set up.

From initial social engineering attack, all the way through to payment of ransom everything is automated and driven by machine learning.

Every SME should be implementing a training and education process, doing a risk and gap analysis and implementing a cybersecurity and business security framework.

With that everything else will follow.

The business will be more stable, the culture of the organisation will change and getting back to business as normal after an attack can be significantly easier.

The impact of a cyber event for an organisation implementing these 3 components or not is significant.

If you haven’t implemented these 3 strategies in the last 12 months, 2 years or 5 years then 2020 is going to be a bad year.

But it’s not too late.

Why your charity is a great target for cybercriminals

Posted on 09/08/201909/08/2019 by Roger Smith

You are doing a great job. You manage, support a small charity, not for profit organisation and love what you do.

Your primary focus is to get as much done for your charity. It could be donations, volunteers or grants but all for your primary charity focus.

Your whole role is to make sure that as much money goes through to the people in need.

Now I want you to step back and answer a couple of questions.

What would happen to all those good intentions if you got hacked?
How many of your supporters would you lose if you got hacked?
What would happen to your reputation if you got hacked?

But, it would not happen to you, would it?

Let me tell you a not so secret secret!

You are a target!

Maybe not a target of a full-blown black hat attack but you are a target none the less. The analogy that I use is “what is the chance that a black belt martial arts person is going to beat you up?” Probably very remote!

When it comes to a cyber event, the black hat attacker is not the problem.

The problem is the hugely available and easy to use automated systems that are available for any person with an inclination to use them.

These automated systems create malware, deliver it, track it, monitor it, manage the stages of an attack and manage and control the money being made. All a “ hacker” has to do is be willing and ethically capable and pull that trigger.

The risk to your charity organisation is significant.

Our attitude to the digital world as it is just a tool and anyone can use it is having a huge negative impact on business because it is not.

I can guarantee that your charity has a board, it has used a legal company for the structure and has an accountant to look at the books, but the most essential component of the organisation is what you put into the digital world.

From desktop computers to smart devices and cloud-based systems and services, the digital world is all around us.

We treat it like the normal world, that is bad. Theft in the real world is seen and actioned, in the digital world, it is not. I could have access to all of your data and you may not even know it is happening.

You need to talk to a MBSSP to bring your organisation to a level where your business security will protect the organistion, the data, the users but most importantly your clients, volunteers and supporters.

Without them you cannot function as a charity, and all your good intentions will disappear.

The best way to find out how vulnerable to a cyber event your organisation is. Use the CareMIT Digital Diagnostic Tool or come to one of our regular quarterly “Security Board Meetings”

Business Security – Don’t do it yourself!

Posted on 09/08/201909/08/2019 by Roger Smith

When it comes to business security, most people think that it is a no brainer!

Delegate to the IT department and it is done.

If you want to be a target, maybe get your 2 minutes of fame on the nightly news and want a cyber event to impact your reputation, finances, operations, and legal capability then, by all means, ask the IT department.
Business security is all about the business. Yes technology and the IT department are a component but they are not the most important component of the requirements to secure the organisation

Business security starts at the top. Board Members, managers, and owners are required to look at the business and work out where an attack could come from, calculate the destructive effects, mitigate those effects and then implement protective strategies to cover those attacks.

This is very hard to do when your expertise is based on your core business. Your core business could be anything – legal, finance, manufacturing or even charity based. You are good at what you do, that means that you are not the best at understanding the problems associated with business security.

This is when you need the Board, management, and owners to look outside their organisations, to people and organisations that focus on business security. Business security is their core business!

From a management perspective, business security is all about risk. Risk assessment, risk management and then risk reduction. Your organisation has to have an understanding of their risk appetite before they can implement change and reduce those risks.

Business today is wholly dependent on the digital. We would not be able to do business without it. Each of those digital components has a risk factor requirement. Do you know what they are?

A business security risk assessment is the first step in Business security.

The best way to find out how vulnerable to a cyber event your organisation is. Use the CareMIT Digital Diagnostic Tool or come to one of our regular quarterly “Security Board Meetings“.