In today’s modern workplace, technology is the number one driver of innovation and efficiency. But without reliable IT support, technology can also represent the number one threat to your business’s security.
That’s why we’ve identified five common vulnerabilities that are routinely overlooked by business owners. What do they all have in common? Nearly every company can relate to at least one of them—and the expertise of a good IT partner can help you mitigate the effects of all of them.
The following statistics come from CIO Magazine’s 2015 State of the CIO survey, which collected responses on a wide range of topics from more than 550 American IT executives:
1) Internal threats should be taken seriously. Although hackers, viruses, and other external bad actors are real, many business owners are surprised to find out that, even inadvertently, their own employees can pose a big risk to IT security. According to CIO Magazine, 63% of survey respondents reported that employees had accidentally allowed unauthorized access to a company network, while 61% said carelessness had led to hijacked accounts. And a whopping 43% revealed that their companies had been attacked by malicious insiders or disgruntled employees.
2) Third-party security is crucial. Most affiliates would never knowingly put their business partners’ IT security at risk. But intent isn’t required for error—consider the Target breach of 2013, which cost the company 50% of its Q4 2013 profit and affected 100 million people, all because a small HVAC company had remote access to Target’s servers. 60% of businesses surveyed by CIO Magazine said they failed to safeguard sensitive data among business partners, while 21% said they never held security planning meetings. And 45% of senior executives admitted they didn’t take full responsibility for security matters.
3) Untested policies are surprisingly common. 50% of businesses surveyed by CIO Magazine said they ran internal tests less than once a quarter, while 60% said they ran external tests in the same time period. And 20% of businesses revealed that they don’t perform any kinds of tests at all. Having sound security policies in place is important—but having a trusted partner that regularly tests them is even more important for long-term IT success
4) Unsolicited emails, infected attachments, and malicious links are still dangerous. You could have the strongest security policies in the world in place, but all it takes is one inadvertent click on one malicious link or bad email attachment to infect all of the computers in your office. Never open ANY emails or attachments if you don’t recognize the sender, hover over ANY link and review the address before clicking on it, and publish a clear and concise policy on these matters that ALL employees are required to understand and sign.
5) Mobile devices represent the weakest security link. The integrity of mobile devices has become a hot topic in IT circles—especially as industry standards have risen. But even with mandatory passcodes, thumbprint scanners, and remote wipe capabilities, each and every mobile device still represents a potential gateway for hackers. 67% of CIOs said their organizations were affected by mobile security breaches in 2014, while 38% said their existing bring your own device (BYOD) policies aren’t secure enough. 33% admitted that BYOD policies aren’t in place at all at their companies.
At CMIT Solutions, we believe a proactive approach is far more effective than a reactive one. That’s why our remote monitoring and maintenance solution maintains nonstop vigilance over our clients’ systems—and why we’re always working to go above and beyond the call of IT security duty. Want to know more about how mobile device management, strong security policies and procedures, digital retaliation, and layered network management can benefit your business? Contact us today.