Is your business prepared for an ATTACK!? Hunt or Be Hunted!

Live-Tech & Managed Service Providers layer preventative security products to defend their customers. For years, this adequately protected SMBs against most unsophisticated threats. Unfortunately, the threat landscape dramatically shifted in 2016 when hackers realized small businesses could be as lucrative as well-guarded enterprises. As a result, most businesses served by MSPs are not prepared to detect the advanced techniques which inevitably slip past their preventive security. Left unchecked, SMBs risk their productivity, their reputations, and―in extreme cases―their businesses which is all too common these days.

Why is this so important? Because year over year, the worldwide spend for cyber security continues to grow: 71.1 billion in 2014 (7.9% over 2013), and 75 billion in 2015 (4.7% from 2014) and expected to reach 101 billion by 2018. Organizations are starting to understand that malware is a publicly available commodity that makes it easy for anyone to become a cyber attacker, and even more companies offer security solutions that do little to defend against attacks. Cyber security demands focus and dedication.

The rise of cybercrime

This rise in the widespread use of technology brought with it a rise in cybercrime. For hackers, the possibilities increased exponentially, along with the potential rewards. At one end of the scale, you have “script kiddies” hoping for a modest payday from unleashing some ransomware on a single computer. At the other, there are “state-sponsored” hackers, who’ve switched to cybercrime as a method of war, viewing it as “cheaper, faster and easier than traditional conflict.”

The fact that cybercrime now permeates every facet of society shows why cyber security is crucially important.

Why Huntress?

Modern antivirus primarily focuses on the actions performed by executable files and makes heuristic-based detection. Antivirus also uses static signatures to identify known malicious sections of files. Unfortunately, viruses are constantly evolving and techniques—like footholds—have largely been ignored. As a result, hackers today still successfully use the same persistence techniques they used in Windows 95 malware.

Huntress puts a stop to this and makes hackers earn every inch of their access within the networks we protect. Our Managed Detection and Response Service quickly discovers new and existing footholds regardless of the infection vector

Never Ending Statistics

It’s incredibly easy to find cybercrime statistics to shock and surprise people and prove strong reasons for cyber security. In fact, it’s fair to wonder if people may have become a little desensitized to them, or that the sheer scale of the numbers makes them hard to take in.

For starters, it’s estimated that the global cost of cybercrime for 2017 added up to around $600 Billion. The number mounts up every year, and by 2021 pundits are suggesting a figure of $6 Trillion per year.

But perhaps it’s better to focus on statistics that are more relatable to you personally – in your role in your business, for example:

How about the fact that 54% of firms had their network or data compromised last year? If you’re one of the few people yet to experience being in the thick of such an attack, the fact that it happens to more than half of companies in a year suggests it could well be your turn soon.

Or, perhaps you could keep yourself awake by considering the average cost of recovering from a cyber attack, which is estimated at $5 Million. If you run a smaller business, this might seem like an enormous figure, but these things are proportional. Plenty of small businesses could be wiped out by a bill of $50,000. This is reflected in a final statistic that’s widely quoted: 60% of small businesses who experience a major cybercrime incident go out of business shortly after.

Don’t ever forget the importance of backup and recovery

A company is hit by ransomware every 40 seconds, but the irony is that no firm needs to pay a ransom if their backups and disaster recovery efforts are on point. Yes, such a cyber attack will cause annoyance and disruption, but if a backup is there, there’s no need to pay hackers any money.

This probably strikes you as an extremely basic point. However, it’s clear that plenty of companies drop the ball. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a statistic saying that nearly half of affected US companies end up paying ransoms to hackers! This indicates that an awful lot of companies don’t manage to get business continuity right, however obvious the need for it may seem. This is not only about ransomware – reliable backups back all kinds of hacks and breaches easier to recover from.

 

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