There is only one thing scarier than the New York Giants right now, and that is the current state of cybercrime.  

Cybercrime has emerged as one of the most formidable threats facing businesses today, yet few organizations are adequately prepared to combat this growing problem.

In a recent study…

• More than half (53 percent) of U.S. businesses indicated they experienced a cyberattack in the last year;
• 72 percent of businesses that have been hacked spent more than $5,000 to investigate the incident, replace or restore software and hardware and deal with other consequences;
• More than a third (38 percent) spent over $50,000;
• 10 percent spent between $100,000 and $250,000, and
• 7 percent spent more than $250,000.

In the same study, 7 out of 10 executives expressed concern that their data would be destroyed from a cyberattack. And 62 percent said they are concerned about having their hardware damaged.

So as you can see, the cybercrime pandemic is bad and getting worse — meaning businesses need to double their security efforts in order to avoid getting breached.

Here are three common cybersecurity vulnerabilities facing businesses today:

1. Company employees: The above-mentioned study also points out that employees are a big weak point when it comes to safeguarding data. More than 45 percent of business leaders claimed that negligent and disgruntled employees are their biggest risk to cybersecurity. 37 percent claimed that external hackers are their biggest risk.  

2. Mobile endpoints: Personal mobile devices are now commonplace in most businesses. Oftentimes, however, these devices operate independently from the IT department, which creates a problem called “shadow IT.” IT can’t protect mobile devices they don’t know about, and employees cannot be trusted to perform their own cybersecurity maintenance. As such, organizations enabling “bring your own device” or BYOD may have hundreds or thousands of insecure endpoints accessing the network, storing data and transmitting communications.

3. Online databases: Businesses that store valuable intellectual property online for customers are now especially at risk from cybercrime. Just recently, we learned about a data breach at Forrester where hackers gained access to an online database for customers — allowing them to steal sensitive and valuable research reports.

Understand that these are just a few of the countless cyberthreats facing businesses today. And unfortunately, the vast majority of enterprises today are full of end users who are uneducated about cybercrime and therefore highly vulnerable to unsophisticated attacks. Businesses are strongly encouraged to consider team cybersecurity training, in order to build a robust cybersecurity culture.

Apex Technology Services is an MSP offering cybersecurity assistance and training for companies throughout greater New York City, Westchester county, Fairfield county and beyond. Apex offers onsite consulting and rapid response troubleshooting, providing businesses with the guidance and tools they need to stay safe online.

To learn more about how Apex can help protect your business from cybercrime, click here.

A new breed of hacktrepeneurs has awoken and they have little to fear and everything to gain by infecting as many companies as possible and extorting money from them. Apex Technology Services stands ready to protect your company regardless of whether it’s located in New York City; White Plains, New York; Connecticut; Australia; Europe; or anywhere else. Our full suite of cybersecurity and IT support services is at your disposal, enabling you to spend less time worrying about and more time growing your business.

To ensure your security, consider one of our most popular services — Auditing & Documentation — which pinpoints vulnerabilities in your infrastructure, process flow and internal security procedures.