As technology continues to evolve, companies are finding it hard to keep up, and as a result, they happen to be vulnerable to cyberattacks. There will always be cybercriminals, for they know they can make a lot of money from companies once they complete their objectives.

Hackers take advantage of any weakness your business has in cybersecurity and exploit it. The size of the company doesn’t matter to them. What matters to the hackers is how much you value your business and how much you will be willing to pay for the classified documents they have seized.

Without good cybersecurity, any information about your company is at risk. Without it, you will experience a data breach, copying, altering, or destroying files.

Cybercriminals want to steal the company’s information and use it to cause harm to your business. Therefore, you should always protect your important documents as you wouldn’t want them to fall into the wrong hands. 

As per Cyberthreat Defense Report, 85.7% of Canadian organizations have been affected by successful cyberattacks in last year. And almost 61.2% of them faced Ransom threats with the fear of losing money and their classified data. Although, Canada ranks 13th in the list of countries for cybersecurity score but Cybersecurity awareness and practices are crucial for both employers and employees to assure the risk-free conduct of business. 

To protect your business and personal online privacy, use VPN as a privacy tool in Canada. With the use of a VPN, all your online activity will be protected as your data traffic will be disguised. Therefore, making it hard for cybercriminals to hack you.

For your company to be on the right track, you need to know what cybercriminals can bring to the company. The reason you need to educate your employees on the importance of cybersecurity. But first, your employees need to know the common cybersecurity threats, which are:

Phishing

Phishing is an attempt cybercriminal uses to steal your identity by tricking you into revealing your personal information. They can get you to click on a link, download a file or even pretend to be a legit contact so that you may provide your details.

Examples of phishing include:

  • Fake email account upgrade
  • PayPal Scam
  • Message from an HR Scam email
  • Google Docs Scam etc.

Don’t open or click on such messages if you encounter such messages. Cause that’s what the hacker wants you to do.

Password Hacking

Another way you can put your company at risk is by using weak passwords. Weak passwords are easy to guess. Therefore, make sure you have a strong password consisting of numbers and symbols to make it hard for anyone to guess.

Also, avoid reusing the same password on different sites, making it vulnerable to password hacking.

Identity Theft

If one of your employee’s identities is stolen by a hacker, they might use it to break into your company’s work accounts. And getting valuable information.

Unsecured Wi-Fi

Using public Wi-Fi at airports or cafes while enjoying your coffee makes whatever you are doing online easily accessible to hackers. So, whenever you use public Wi-Fi, always remember to connect to a VPN. Doing so, your online activity will be hidden, making it hard for hackers to detect your IP address.

Using a VPN will keep your online activity safe and protect your business.

The above mentioned are some of the cybersecurity threats that every employee in your company should be aware of. But also, for your employees to understand why they need to take precautions, they must know of the impacts that cyberattacks can bring.

Impact of Cyberattacks

Most cyber-attacks involve data breaches, and once the cybercriminals are successful with it, the outcome is logistical headaches as customers must now deal with the impacts of compromised accounts. Even worse, the attack makes consumers feel unsafe.

If your business experiences a cyberattack, you will suffer the following.

Reputation Damage

Businesses that experience cyber-attacks may find their brand getting ignored.  Many customers and suppliers may feel insecure about leaving valuable information in the hands of a business whose IT infrastructure has been breached.

Cyberattacks will only make your business lose credibility, for security breaches can damage your business reputation and lead to a lack of sales.

Financial Losses

Due to cyber breaches, many customers will stop engaging with the brand. Therefore, the business will experience losses as customers start to look elsewhere to feel more secure.

If the customers decide to sue the business, the business will experience losses as they will have to cater for attorney fees and damages. In addition, if the data breach compromises the customers’ data, the company will have to pay the affected individuals.

Disruption

Due to cyberattacks, companies experience indirect costs from it. However, it is a major disruption because it can cause revenue loss.

Cybercriminals can stall your business from being operational.  They can handcuff normal business activities by affecting the computers will malware that erase all important documents. They can also affect the company’s online business by installing malicious code that denies access to your website.

Most of the above- mention are results of not having enough tools to protect your business. However, there are tools out there that can help your employees protect themselves and your business. Below are some of the tools your employees should know of.

VPNs Virtual Private Networks

When an employee uses public Wi-Fi to access the internet in a cafe, airport, library or hotel, it can put your company information at risk of cyber threat. But it’s ok to use public Wi-Fi, but your employee should use a VPN while accessing the internet. The VPN will encrypt your data information and keep it safe.

Anti-Virus Software

The good thing about Anti-Virus is that it helps detect malicious websites and scans the documents downloaded to detect either viruses or malware.

There are ways that your employees can be able to prevent cyberattacks, and they include

Passwords

Make sure that your employees use different passwords for each website. Ensure that they use a password manager to store and encrypt all their passwords. Using Two-factor authentication should be a must practice for your employees.

Employees should review their credit reports

Set a reminder to remind your employees about checking their credit reports. By doing so, they will detect any odd activity as hackers target employees’ personal information to get access to your business.

Conclusion

Protecting your business can prove costly, but if you value your business and the classified documents that it possesses, improving cybersecurity should be your number one priority. Businesses are getting targeted by cybercriminals every time in Canada.