Cybercrimes like hacking, phishing, and ransomware are on the rise. It goes without saying that cybersecurity is as important as your business assets. Good thing is that organizations of all sizes are getting serious about cybersecurity.
However, despite investing in cybersecurity, there are various cybersecurity myths and misconceptions that should be avoided at all costs. Here are some of them.
My Business is Too Small to Be Attacked:
This is one of the common cybersecurity myths you should not believe anymore. Most small businesses think that they are not that attractive target for hackers. Of course, some hackers focus on big organizations such as a bank.
And it requires them to skilled enough to resist their security barriers. Other hackers would look for a smaller business. This is because these smaller businesses lack sophisticated security measures. According to one report, over 50% of data incidents happen at small businesses.
Be alert. No matter if you have 50 employees or 500, your business is always on the radar of cybercriminals.
Only a Simple Antivirus Can Do the Trick:
Yeah, the antivirus can be sole protection had you been in the 1990s. But today’s cyber-attacks are so advanced that they can easily outwit your simple antivirus software. Antivirus or anti-malware tools are not enough to protect your systems from all kinds of attacks. They might not be able to prevent the attack that is not in their database. Therefore, you should also invest in other cybersecurity measures.
My Passwords are 100% Secure:
While you have created a strong password using the combination of words, alphabets, and special characters, no password can be totally secure. There is always a risk that they can be cracked or compromised in some way.
Therefore, make sure to change your passwords frequently. Whether you change them weekly or once a month, make sure to change them more often.
Cybersecurity is the Sole Responsibility of the IT Department:
The IT department plays important role in cybersecurity. But that doesn’t mean it is the sole gatekeeper of everything. Cybersecurity should go beyond the IT department to other departments of your organization.
Your IT department is helpless if your employees are using weak passwords or not locking their unused systems. Therefore, they should be practicing all cybersecurity measures to keep their assets safe and secure.
It is No Harm to Bring Your Own Device:
Well, it is a great cost-effective way to let your employees bring in and connect their personal devices to your company’s network, but it also triggers several risks. Most employees have many devices such as laptops and flash-drives and when they connect to your network, it creates a new gateway for threat actors.
It only takes on the vulnerable link to bring down the whole network. For example, some of the devices brought by your employees can contain malware and viruses. Therefore, it is important to deploy cybersecurity policy regarding BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) practices.
Cyber-attacks are Only External:
Most people believe that cyber-attacks come from the outside. So they focus on the external threat by using antivirus and strong passwords. Here is an eye-opener—over 70% of data incidents are caused by someone on the inside. And those “someone” can be your malicious employee, an ex-employee with a grudge, and just an innocent employee who does it by mistake.
That’s why you should monitor the system of your employees and change your passwords and other settings every time an authorized person leaves your company.
You Can Tell Right Away that Your PC is Infected:
Well, this might be true some ten years ago. You could immediately tell if your PC was infected with a virus—common signs included slow browsers, pop-up ads and in severe cases, full-on system crashes.
In today’s scenario, modern malware is much more advanced and not easy to detect. Depending on the type of virus your computer or network is affected with, your system might run smoothly, letting the virus to do more damage as possible before detection.
Complete Cybersecurity Can is Achieved:
Cybersecurity is an on-going practice. You can’t imply with a “set-it-and-forget-it” approach. This is because a new virus can outwit your security system. New attacks, tactics and attack are constantly being found, as are new security methods and technologies.
Therefore, it is important to perform regular security reviews. Use a third-party analyst to help you check your risk profile, crisis response system, security policies, and infrastructure. Stay updated with cybersecurity trends.
So these are some cybersecurity myths you should not believe anymore. Keep in mind that is a continuous effort. You have to change it according to the trends and attacks. You need to focus on the right cybersecurity practices, educate your employees on cybersecurity, and stay updated.
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