Is Your Business Safe From Internet Criminals?
It is estimated that complacency over cybercrime cost business more than $3 trillion globally in 2015 & whilst a large percentage of that cost was borne by multi-national corporations, local businesses also suffered substantial losses as a direct result of Internet criminals targeting their business online. In a presentation by the CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, the following numbers were shared to illustrate that 2015 was a bad year for cybercrime:
At best, these sorts of security breaches are embarrassing, at worst they can destroy the business’ relationship with its customers (such as happened with Ashley Madison).
So, what can you do about this?
First, let’s be absolutely clear – there is no 100% bullet proof solution that will fully protect you – if the Pentagon, with all of its resources, can be hacked – anyone can be hacked!
But that does not mean that you should do nothing & hope for the best. Complacency of that sort is what the hackers rely on.
It’s akin to the joke about the two friends who are on the African plains when they see a Leopard approaching them. One of the friends sits down, takes off his boots & replaces them with running shoes. His friend says, “Don’t be silly, you can’t outrun a Leopard!” To which the friend putting on the running shoes responds, “No, but I only have to outrun you!”
The same approach is required for Cybercrime – you can’t hope to defeat a professional Cybercriminal at a game they are totally focussed on, but you can make your online presence more secure than your neighbours. Human nature being what it is, the Cybercriminal will go for the easy targets first – leaving your website alone because it looks to be better protected.
Here are some essential elements that you must have covered if your website is not going to be a “Soft” target:
- 160 million customer records compromised
- 229 days on average between infiltration and detection
- $3 trillion of market value destroyed
- In 2014 Sony Corporation had a massive security breach which not only saw data destroyed but stolen and then published online for the world to see!
- In 2015 Ashley Madison had their user data compromised with their members names being published online
- In 2017 the US credit firm Equifax suffered the worst data breach in history when sensitive data of more than 143 million people, including social security numbers, addresses, banking information, etc. This information is valued in around 30$ per record on the black market, making a potential deal for cybercriminals of 4.2 Billion USD.
- Government data is constantly under threat – even the Pentagon has suffered security breaches!
- In September 2018, Facebook reported that up to 50 million of its users data had been compromised

- Manage all passwords – make sure they are strong (Hint; if it’s easy for you to remember it’s not that strong!) & change them regularly. Don’t have the same password for all of your online accounts!
- Make sure that all people charged with the responsibility of working on your website understand the importance of security (the Sony Hackers gained entry by accessing a folder on a staff members computer titled “Passwords”).
- Keep the software versions of all online properties (eg; WordPress, Joomla, etc for a website) up to date
- Ensure that any plugins or add ons to the website are always up to date
- When staff leave – change all passwords they had access to – immediately
- Have policies in place regarding downloaded files & what can/can’t be opened in email attachments