Cyber Security: It's Time to Get Serious

By the DynaSis Team

With the news of the data breach at the Federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM), where some 21.5 million confidential, sensitive records were stolen, security experts are reinforcing how important it is for every organization—private or public; large or small—to implement robust security measures. Yet, 58 percent of SMBs haven't invested additional resources in cyber security in the past year, even though 81 percent of them are concerned about it and 91 percent "think about it often."*

That's deeply concerning, because even the smallest firm is at risk. With the emergence of tools that scan the Internet 24/7, "sniffing" for vulnerable systems, hackers no longer need to target a company to penetrate it.  Once these tools find a vulnerable system, they are programmed to infiltrate it, steal the data and even install software that can then turn these systems into "bots" that help troll for and exploit more victims.

So, what security measures should a small or midsized business (SMB) take to repel these invaders? Following are a few solutions that are absolutely critical for SMB security, today.

1. Physical or virtual security appliances that incorporate firewall, intrusion prevention, wireless and wired security, application control and Web filtering, at the minimum.
2. The services of an advanced threat research team that scans for new threats and automatically updates protective services 24/7/365.
3. A unified, user-friendly management console that makes it easy for organizations or their security providers to add and delete corporate personnel and computing devices including smartphones, adjust access restrictions, perform updates and more across the entire security platform.
4. Preferably, all solutions should incorporate high-performance network boost filtering performance and reduce drain on operating systems.

This list may sound daunting, but solutions that meet these criteria are readily available. As discussed in our recent article, "Moving Your Business to the Cloud: Three Top Reasons Why the Time Is Now," cloud-based security platforms are the most efficient and cost effective. However, firms that insist on physical security can achieve that at a slightly higher cost.

The most disconcerting issue with the OPM breach wasn't its extent. It was that 80% of the breach wasn't even discovered until a forensic investigation occurred. For businesses with fewer resources at their disposal, it often takes a call from an outside entity, such as the FBI, for a business to discover it has been hacked. Thanks to the current generation of sophisticated, automated hacking tools, your corporate system could easily become a victim—and even a "bot" for future attacks—unless your systems are adequately protected.

About DynaSis

DynaSis is an Atlanta IT services and cloud computing provider for small and midsized businesses. All of our solutions focus on helping companies achieve the three fundamental IT necessities of the modern business—availability, security and mobility. We specialize in on-demand and on-premise managed IT services, managed cloud infrastructure, desktops and backups, and professional hardware and equipment installation. For more information about DynaSis’ IT support and services, visit www.dynasis.com.

*Endurance International Group, 2015.