A Security Plan for Businesses by Virtual Protectors

Today, businesses both large and small face immense cyber threats and must continuously evolve to

While running businesses, owners must be aware of crucial security threats that their organizations are exposed to in order to formulate

While all of these technologies have enabled exciting changes and opportunities for businesses, they have also created a unique set of challenges for business managers. Chief among all concerns about technology is the issue of information security. It seems to be almost a weekly occurrence to see a news article about yet another breach of security and loss of sensitive data. Many people will remember high profile data breaches from companies such as T.J Maxx, Boston Market, Sports Authority, and OfficeMax. In the case of T.J. Maxx, a data breach resulted in the loss of more than 45 million credit and debit card numbers. In many of these incidents, the root cause is a lack of adequate security practices within the company. The same technologies that enable managers can also be used against them. Because of this, businesses must take appropriate steps to ensure their data remains secure and their communications remain

Although security breaches in big corporations often make the news, security breaches in small businesses are also a very common occurrence. The common misconception among small businesses is that their businesses are too small to attract security breaches and do not employ strong security. Other small businesses take their chances with a single layer of security like a firewall. These are very dangerous misconceptions because there have been attacks on small businesses in the past and continue to do so in the future. This is because small businesses handle large amounts of personally identifiable data if stolen could have a long lasting and damaging impact. Cyber crime today uses many methods to steal information. Since most communication

In today’s vastly technological world, when it comes to internet and computer security, people are either scared or unaware of the dangers present. Everything we use in our daily lives, from devices such as phones, tablets, and computers, to cars, gas stations, and electrical plants, is run by computers. This puts millions and billions of people at risk with impending security attacks just a keystroke away. The threat of an attack or breach in a system puts information security at a premium for many organizations and individuals. Therefore the onus is on businesses and organizations to ensure the confidentiality of information in their possession. Securing information prevents breaches and cyberattacks, protects the privacy of

The White House of the United States has developed a Cyber-Insurance Metrics. The goal of this is to provide cyber-insurance to protect businesses from Internet-based risks, and more generally from risks relating to information technology infrastructure and activities . This will cover attacks such as data destruction, extortion, theft, hacking, and denial of service attacks. By taking part in this policy, businesses will be encouraged to adapt what is considered best practices. Preconditions exist for joining. By doing so, businesses will utilize the benefits of good security and the costs of poor security. A greater investment will be made with improvements in security.

These breaches affect businesses and consumers alike and have serious and immediate impacts on the hacked company. Including the loss of consumer trust. Target reported a breach in their security in late 2013. After the security breach, Targets’ winter sales slid 2.5%. The company has also reported spending up to $100 million in increasing its security systems and providing credit monitoring services for affected consumers. IBM has analyzed that the cost to a company in the initial response to a security breach for 2014 to be 3.5 million dollars on average, up 15% from the prior year (Ponemon, 2014). While it is likely impossible to become 100% secure from hacking breaches, businesses have decided to take a more proactive stance in dealing with security breaches by forming security response teams, breach insurance, and increased computer security protocol. An Association of Financial Professionals report has stated that corporate anxiety has led to a 71% increase of spending on security measures (Heller, 2014). Corporate security breach insurance accounted for $1.3 billion dollars spent in 2013, and growth is expected to be exponential.

“Businesses, governments, and other organizations face a wide array of information security risks. Some threaten the confidentiality of private information, some threaten the integrity of data and operations, and still others threaten to disrupt availability of critical systems” (Sullivan, 2009). Since such security risks are always going to present in the cyber world, businesses and organizations need to fully be aware of any vulnerabilities in their systems. The initial realization of any organization’s vulnerability can only

Cyber Attacks have forced industries to assess many areas of security as well as policies and procedures currently in place that protect sensitive information. Companies have lost billions of dollars as part these breaches, as they are forced to reimburse consumers for transactions and exposure of their identities. “A report by the

Recommendation to plan and implement a security policy in order to protect our financial, intellectual and customer data from external threats. The rising number of cyber security attacks is a problem that is growing more advanced everyday. In 2014 cyber attacks against large corporation increase 40 percent from the previous year (Carey, 2015). Due to these threats small businesses through large multi-national corporations are under immense scrutiny as to how they are dealing with protecting their intellectual property and sensitive customer data from being lost, stolen or modified. Computer hackers are constantly finding more creative ways to exploit security holes in networks, computer systems and web e-commerce sites.

One of the biggest challenges that businesses face today is planning and preparing for security breaches, especially how to react and respond to cyber security incidents and security breaches. Security-related threats have become quite a nuisance and are more diverse than ever before. The security-related threats have become more disruptive to business processes and more damaging to company’s reputation. With preventative activities encompassing the results of risk assessments, penetration tests, and an effective vulnerability management programs can lessen the effects and decrease the impact of incidents. There is no way to completely prevent all incidents from happening within the company’s networks during day to day operations. Having

In the complex online world of ever flowing data where users are getting more educated about issues like privacy policies, terms of use, concerns over sharing persona information online or similar concerns about their banking details, it has become ever more important to deploy finest cyber security measures for startups as any lapse in security, opening a back door to critical data can seriously damage the reputation any startup desperately needs.

Eliminating threats is impossible, so protecting against them without disrupting business innovation and growth is a top management issue (Kaplan, Sharma & Weinberg, 2014). The internet is a global system of computers and

Today, information technology plays an ever increasing and integral role in most modern business operations. Taking advantage of the digital age, businesses can utilize technology to create more efficient and productive systems, help capture new markets, or automate processes. Businesses and organizations are becoming more and more dependent on technology to exchange, store, and use or create information. However, many businesses simply are not prepared for or have limited resources available to deal with today’s complex and rapidly changing information technology landscape, most notably in the area of security. Small to medium sized businesses with limited IT budgets and support are fast becoming the target of choice by cyber criminals and hackers. According to the latest statistics released by cyber security firm Symantec, in December of 2015 more than half of phishing attacks were carried out using fake emails against small to medium sized businesses, a trend that has steadily increased over the last five years (Symantec, 2016).

Organizations which rely on network infrastructure for their business operation must utilize security technology to protect the network from harmful actions of automated attacks as well as malicious human activity. It is also important to enact policies and guidelines for the employees of the organization, which in many regards can be the weakest link in the chain of security. According to a survey by The Ponemon Institute (2012), “78 percent of respondents said their organizations have experienced a data breach as a result of negligent or malicious employees or other insiders” (p.1). A statistic like this points to the need for comprehensive policies that detail the company’s expectations and mandates for specific situations relating to