Cyber Defense eMagazine August 2019

Cybersecurity & Your Company
Identifiable Threats and How to Block them
By Frances Dewing, CEO, Rubica
As more smaller companies rely on technology to do their day-to-day business, their risk of being hacked
increases. For some people, this may seem counterintuitive. Hacking larger corporations offers bigger
payoffs and we tend to only hear of cyber attacks on big companies such as Adobe, Sony and Equifax.
On the other hand, smaller businesses do not have the resources nor the money to invest in robust cyber
infrastructures, leading them to be vulnerable. The result is loss of money, production and client
information – and negative impact on reputation. These smaller businesses can also be the gateway to
access the information of big corporations. For example: The Target hack, which resulted in tens of
millions of consumer’s credit card details stolen, stemmed from hackers infiltrating a small HVAC
company which allowed them to access credentials to Target’s network.
According to Small Business Trends, 43% of cyber attacks are targeted at companies with 250
employees or less. A small business is particularly at risk if they have frequent wire transfers or payment
transactions, deal in customer personally identifiable information (PII), financial info, health data,
intellectual property, or contract with larger entities or high-profile individuals (where they could be
targeted as a weak link into them). Fortunately, there are a few things companies can look out for to
prevent risks.
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