Managed It Services Spotlight Cyber Attack Prevention

Another day, another cyber attack

Another day, another cyber attack. Actually, the statement should be, Another day, another 60 million cyber attacks. A recent government report shows that the United States government faces 1.8 billion cyber attacks per month. While this report only pertains to government resources, businesses also face cyber attacks at alarming rates. The estimated number against businesses is harder to aggregate as there is no central source to report the information to, but the numbers would be equally as high if not greater.

A cyber attack can consist of multiple methods depending upon the purpose of the attacker. One of the most common forms is known as a Distributed Denial of Service (DoS) attack. In a DoS attack, a large number of remotely controlled computers overwhelm a website or online service effectively making it unable to access for legitimate users. Another prevalent type of cyber attack is the theft of sensitive employee and customer data. This data can include personal information, financial records, credit cards and more. While the service interruption caused by DoS attacks certainly causes a financial loss, the theft of sensitive data can have a much greater financial impact for businesses.

Previously cyber attacks were not much of a concern for small businesses, but that has changed. Regardless of size, businesses must now ensure they have the proper defenses to prevent a cyber attack. Unfortunately, many businesses are still not protected. The 2009 National Small Business Cybersecurity Study revealed alarming statistics for small businesses. The report found that only 28 percent of businesses surveyed had any type of formal Internet security policy, and only 35 percent provided Internet safety training to employees. One of the most interesting details of the report was that 65 percent of the businesses surveyed stated that the Internet was vital to the success of their business; however, the numbers show that the businesses are not taking adequate measures to protect against an attack.

This past January, more than 30 U.S. companies including Google and Adobe faced what has been called the Most sophisticated online attack ever seen outside of the defense industry. Although specific details were not released, Google claimed that the attack stole intellectual property. While the attack has been traced back to the Chinese government by a U.S. security firm, the Chinese government continues to claim it had no involvement with the incident. This attack represented just one of the estimated 1.6 billion cyber attacks per month that originate from China, and is believed to be the catalyst of Googles decision to stop censoring search results on its Chinese site, and shutdown its Chinese offices and services.

Cyber attacks represent just one of the many IT challenges businesses, regardless of size, find themselves facing. It is extremely important to make sure your business is properly prepared for this growing threat. No longer do businesses need full-time IT staff when they can partner with managed IT service providers.

Copyright (c) 2010 Karl Muhlbach

by: Karl Muhlbach

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