Solid Business Network Security Is Vital To Businesses Of All Sizes
Big companies, big networks. There’s plenty of scope for a really meaty threat to rear its ugly head, in addition to the exciting prospect of front line social engineering. However, when it comes to security audits, Small to Medium Companies (SMEs) are often in a much worse position, because the risks arent seen as enough to have any proper procedures in place.
This is the first in a series of weekly posts which will help you forumalte a security policy for your company. This week we’re going to look at the importance of securing SME business systems, and the first step we can take to protect ourselves from hackers.
Network Security In Enterprise
The attitude is often “Why would anyone want to hack us?” This stance probably stems from the idea that a hacker is lonely teenager sat in a darkened room, working for hours to compromise a system. While these hackers still exist, it is no longer the noteriety that hackers seek, but financial information that can be sold on the black market.
The Amazon.com of stolen information
When I say “black market” I dont mean some seedy bar down a dark alley in some far off city. I’m talking about thriving, online supermarkets where financial information can be purchased for as little as $1 USD per credit card (which includes the card number, the pin number, expiry dates and CSV number)
What’s more, hacking is no longer the preserve of our previously mentioned hacker stereotype. If you know where to look (and all it takes is some Googling) its possible to find “Virus generators” which use a Microsoft Wizard style interface to author your own virus, name it, decide on its payload and charactistics, and even send it out to a list of email addresses.
That means that making money from compromised information is accessible to anyone and everyone who has the inclination to trade on the misery of others.
Blanket attacks
The key here is that stealing valuable information, that can be sold for profit, has become automated. Is a hacker likely to specifically target One Man Band Incorperated? or We Sell Really Niche Products Limited? Of course not, but you can bet they will release wave after wave of attacks, blanket fashion, which hit you and thousands of other companies just like you.
What’s more, if companies like Sony, and News Interational Group (Owners of The Sun Newspaper here in the UK) and Lady GaGa’s website are suceptable to attacks, then you can bet these groups have the recourses to target as many companies and individuals as possible.
What does this mean for SME’s? In short, anyone, and everyone is a target. Further more, as Internet fraud rates increase (up 22% from 2008 to 2009 in the USA alone) we will find that criminals will invariably target the “low hanging fruit” before the Cornucopia that are the big multinationals.
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