In the present digital era, businesses, regardless of size or industry, are vulnerable to an array of cybersecurity threats, including disruptions in services, fraud, intellectual property theft, and malware attacks. These threats pose not only financial risk through lost productivity and revenue but also harm to our reputation which is incalculable.
Particularly, finance functions, being the custodians of valuable data, are prime targets for cybercriminals. This makes it imperative for IT Manager and the C-suite to understand and proactively combat cybercrime.
ISPs have been on the front lines of cybersecurity since the early 1990s. Insights we have developed over the years shed light on the top cybersecurity threats and their mitigation strategies. We have identified three broad threat categories to discuss: cyber fraud, malware and ransomware, and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
- Cyber Fraud: This umbrella term includes phishing, vishing, identity theft, and website spoofing, with top executives being prime targets. For instance, you should confirm with your bank that Positive Pay is turned on for the company's main operating (checking) account. Also confirm that all other bank accounts cannot have funds removed by any transaction except by a transfer to the operating account. Employee education about security best practices is crucial to avoiding these attacks, alongside investments in the right analytics and threat protection. Without these resources, we risk operating in a landscape that can blindside us with threats.
- Malware and Ransomware: Malware, or malicious software, aims to damage or gain access to a computer or network. The well-known subtype, ransomware, involves encrypting a system's data and demanding a ransom for decryption. It's crucial to not only train employees about these threats but also to prioritize budgeting for threat prevention and data protection, ensuring a healthy digital transformation.
- DDoS Attacks: DDoS attacks involve a network of infected computers overwhelming a server with traffic, making it unable to respond to legitimate requests. As per 2022 data, the average occurrence of these attacks was 10 per customer per day, suggesting a more frequent risk than anticipated. Notably, 75% of attacks last less than ten minutes, 98% are under 10 Gbps, and there's a 27% chance of a repeat attack, often with a ransom demand.
Mitigate Cybersecurity Threats
It is paramount to ensure a comprehensive understanding of these threats at the highest level of the organization. While these may seem minor, even small DDoS threats can cause significant damage, evading on-demand services and creating major disruption. Inaction can lead to significant financial loss due to service downtime, customer churn, disrupted internal operations, project delays, SLA penalties, and damage to your reputation.
The key to mitigating these threats lies in company leadership working closely with IT and security teams, gaining insights into the network infrastructure, understanding the legal and financial consequences of DDoS attacks, and identifying the necessary investments in infrastructure, technology, and personnel. Additionally, a strong emphasis should be placed on training and educating employees as they serve as the first line of defense against cyber threats.
Atlantech Online offers a robust DDoS protection solution. atlantech|ddos protect outperforms legacy approaches and on-demand cloud scrubbing by offering automatic protection at full edge bandwidth, reducing the detection-to-mitigation timeline to mere seconds.
If you are a current Atlantech Online customer, in order to ensure that you are optimally prepared for cybersecurity threats, it would be beneficial to explore atlantech|ddos protect. If you are looking for Internet connectivity for your business, our DDoS Protect service is a differentiator from cable modem solutions you may also be considering.
