2 min Security

‘More than half of the small businesses have had to deal with cyber-attacks’.

‘More than half of the small businesses have had to deal with cyber-attacks’.

Cybercriminals focus on small businesses. Today, research by Alert Online shows that more than half (53 percent) of small businesses have experienced cyber-attacks aimed at money or data. The fact that more and more companies are working digitally means that there is a need for better security.

That’s what Alert Online reports today. It is a government campaign for business and science. For this reason, today marks the start of Security Week, which focuses on cyber security. Despite the increasing cyber threat, companies are less and less concerned about their digital security.

More worries needed

This is when, according to Minister Fred Grapperhaus of Justice and Security, more worries are needed. More and more small businesses also work digitally; orders and payments are made online, business processes are controlled by computers. This offers opportunities to do the work more easily and quickly, but also makes a company vulnerable, according to Grapperhaus.

The problem lies in the enormous vulnerability of small businesses. There only has to be one employee who clicks on the wrong link and the whole company is immediately stopped. This is detrimental to the company, which loses revenue as a result, but also to the customers from whom data may be stolen. In order to counter this concern, Grapperhaus has earmarked 1.2 million euros for training and information for SMEs.

Take measures

Companies are most likely to encounter phishing emails. The recipient clicks on an attachment, for example a fake invoice, after which malware is installed or data is stolen. Alert Online’s research shows that three-quarters of small entrepreneurs are not at all worried about this.

It is advisable for companies to back up their data often. In addition, updates should be performed as soon as they are available, companies should have a good firewall and passwords should be as complex as possible. But the most important thing is the training of staff. If this is not the case, security can be the best in the world, but it can still be easily penetrated.

This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.