Battling the Online Highwayman: How to Guard Your Business Against Cyber Crime

By Malcolm Osmond

In years gone by, if you saw a man galloping alongside your carriage waving a pistol with his face partially covered by a scarf, then you would be right to assume that he was a highwayman and you were about to be robbed.

As technology lurches forward and criminals operate deep within the online space, they are not so easy to recognize. It may be the spotty teen on his laptop at the local wi-fi hotspot or a techno-savvy white collar worker with a load of ambition and a lack of scruples.

Is your business at risk?

Businesses in the 21st century are increasingly at risk for cyber crime, but many are woefully unprepared. What types of cyber crime can affect your business? Consider these real-world examples:

• Your business email server and hard drive are stolen while with an outside vendor for repairs.
• One of your key employees decides that he’s not happy with his lot and steals the personal information of all your online customers, holding you to ransom.
• A hacker breaks into a card processing system and steals credit card information–much of it belonging to you and your clients.
• Your assistant clicks on a phishing email and opens up the company network to hackers.

Cyber security expert Sarb Sembhi says, "For years, security professionals have been saying 'either you have been data breached or you just do not know that you have been data breached.'”

The bottom line is that businesses need to protect their bottom line. When it comes to cyber crime, the implications are not limited to apologising to your customers for losing their data. When you consider that crime of this nature is generally carried out by very smart people looking to gain financially, you begin to understand the scope of the problem.

The cost of cyber crimes

When your business suffers a data breach you are financially liable for any or all of the following:

• Forensic investigations to determine how it happened, how to prevent it from happening again, and who was responsible.
• Data loss recovery and crisis management.
• Notification of the breach, credit checking, and ongoing credit monitoring of the affected parties.
• Loss of income due to business interruption.
• Legal action from affected parties, including settlements, fines, and other court actions.
• Costs of cyber extortion.
• PR costs relating to damage control of the company reputation.

Without a doubt, these costs can run into millions and are enough to sink a company.

Ways to protect yourself

What steps can you take to protect yourself and your business from cyber crime? The most obvious protection is prevention. Specific ways include:

• Weak passwords are frequently exploited by hackers, so using a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols of eight characters or more will create additional obstacles to would-be criminals.
• Use encryption software on sensitive data, or keep it on a computer that is not networked. It may sound old-school, but cyber criminals need online access to your information before they can do anything with it.
• Lock your business internet down to prevent employees from visiting risky sites. Adult sites and gambling sites are high risk and you are likely to find yourself with a virus in no time at all.
• Pop-ups and emails which ask you to enter sensitive information or download a file are a popular doorway for hackers. Just don’t do it. Ask your security team to keep on top of the latest email and phishing scams and make sure that your staff is aware of the dangers.
• Keep backup data off-site, perhaps with a secure third-party vendor.

You may also consider insuring yourself against cyber crime. Having cyber liability coverage in place won’t stop the cyber criminals, but it will protect your business from major financial losses.

It’s a sad fact of life in our modern age that if your business is online—no matter your industry—then you are at risk of being hacked. Small businesses and startups are particularly vulnerable as they are unlikely to have the budget or know-how to implement major security protocols.

However, putting simple, preventative procedures in place and getting professional advice on cyber security and business insurance will protect you when the highwaymen come knocking at your virtual door.

This article should not be considered legal or financial advice and is for information purposes only. You should consult with a professional financial advisor to determine what may be best for your individual needs.