Through inadequate protection and careless routines, online threats can cause considerable damage to businesses both financially and legally, and it could ultimately result in the company being shut down. Half of all data hacks are aimed at small businesses, and unlike a physical threat, the online threat is more damaging due to it being more pervasive and immediate.
The reason many businesses struggle to understand online threats is that they don’t know how to protect their companies, but it is vastly becoming severe as of 2017, hackers targeted 14 million small businesses. So what can you do to prevent a critical threat affecting your business?
Types of Threat
60% of small businesses that experience a cyber attack are out of business within six months. There are lots of different forms online threats can take including:
- Phishing
- Malicious Software
- Denial-of-Service attacks (DDoS)
These threats can be easily prevented through a simple antivirus package that can be found on www.mcafee.com, which will protect you from any virus trying to attack your business.
Some of the ways these online threats can affect the running of your business and can potentially lead to ruin.
Financial Loss
Online threats can affect your business several ways financially and not just by stealing the financial information (e.g., bank details and card details). They can disrupt to trade by making you unable to carry out transactions online, as well as taking corporate information.
More finances are generally lost after in an effort to fix the hacked system and to prevent future occurrences.
Data Protection
One of the ways a threat can affect a business is by hacking not only into the website of the company but into the data and personal information of clients. This can affect the trust between a business and a client due to a data breach.
Due to the recent data protection and privacy laws, if any personal data has been lost, it could potentially lead to a lawsuit, especially if the information leaked was financial or credit card details.
Bad Reputation
As soon as you’ve breached the client’s data, it won’t be long until your reputation soon gets the better of you and getting back to a reputable standard you were before might not be so easy. The trust between you and the client has been lost, and that trust is vital for a business to survive.
Reviews Are Everything!
While most online threats are from hackers, there is another form of an online threat that can affect your business and it could come directly from your customers. More than 92% of customers read online reviews, and a massive 88% of that trust them. Therefore, any negative comments can affect your business revenue, which can affect all aspects of your business.
All of these aspects can affect your business, and it can be quite catastrophic if not dealt with properly. Ensure the right measures are put in place to avoid such things happening, including making sure your colleagues know about what they’re doing and installing an antivirus.
