Not too long ago, small businesses were relatively safe from cyberattacks. They weren’t secure by any stretch; hacking them just wasn’t worth the effort.
These days, though, the script has flipped. Corporations have shored up their defenses, while generative AI gives hackers new tools that allow them to target thousands of unprotected businesses at once. The result is that nearly every small and mid-sized business has become a choice target for hackers looking to make a buck—as have its employees. It’s not a matter of if you’re going to be targeted; it’s a matter of when—and of how you’ll respond.
About 90% of hacking attempts involve tricking staff members through some kind of scam, so your employees are your first line of defense. That’s why a cybersecurity awareness training program is the single best way to protect your business from cyberattacks.
Why Are Hackers Targeting Small Businesses?
Not long ago, small businesses didn’t worry about hackers for the same reason dairy farms don’t worry about bank robbers: Stealing from them just wasn’t worth it. Why bother targeting hundreds of small businesses when breaching a large corporation gave you ten times the payout in a quarter of the time?
Cyberattacks used to be hard to pull off. It took time and careful research to find, identify, and exploit weaknesses in software. That approach just wasn’t suited to attacking small businesses, for a few reasons:
- The low profile and large number of small companies made the few worthwhile targets tough to identify.
- Many small businesses were late digital adopters with antiquated networks that were hard to hack—or no networks at all.
- Small businesses have limited assets, so hackers had little to gain from targeting them.
Unfortunately, things have changed since then.
Anything Digital Can Be Hacked…and Everything is Digital
If you’re reading this, you’re vulnerable to cyberattacks.
It’s nearly impossible to do business today without using electronics of some kind. From printers and cash registers to refrigerators and cars, most modern devices have electronic components—which means they’re vulnerable to hacking. Even a fully analog business can become collateral damage if its vendors or customers suffer an attack.
The only way to be completely safe from hackers is to run a fully analog, cash-only business, never buy or sell from a company that uses electronics, and ban your employees from bringing their phones to work. The fact that you’re reading this article means that’s not an option for you, so you’ll need to find other ways to protect yourself.
Large Organizations Have Strong Cybersecurity (and Small Ones Don’t)
Big corporations have spent years investing in cybersecurity services. They’ve reinforced their systems, trained their employees to spot scam attempts, and even found ways to retaliate against hackers (legally or otherwise). Without serious firepower, trying to breach a large organization these days is like punching a wall: The only person you’re likely to hurt is yourself.
Most hackers have acquired a taste for easier prey: Small businesses whose untrained employees are likely to fall for scams, phishing attempts, and other deception-based attacks.
Hacking Targets Have Become Easier to Find
Years ago, hackers had to do painstaking manual research to build a list of potential targets for their attacks. Today, it’s far simpler. Data brokers make truly staggering amounts of business information available to anyone who pays—the perfect solution for hackers hunting for targets. In most cases, these services aren’t even illegal.
AI Enables Mass Attacks
Generative AI is a frighteningly powerful tool for hackers. It enables them to target thousands of small businesses with just the click of a button…and almost zero risk of consequences.
AI hacking tools can handle practically every element of a cyberattack automatically, gathering targets the hacker might not even know about, generating realistic-looking emails, and even following up to get the mark engaged. Some advanced models can also create human-sounding phone calls or videos.
[With AI tools,] cybersecurity threats can be applied to just about everyone very easily. It doesn’t require a lot of manpower. You don’t have to select who the target is. With AI tools, you can manifest attacks programmatically so that they’re happening all the time.
Your Employees Are Hackers’ Primary Targets
Hackers have long known it’s easier to trick an employee than it is to crack a system. Until recently, though, they still had to handcraft targeted scam messages. That meant they had to pick and choose their targets.
Those limits are a thing of the past. AI hacking tools give hackers the power to carpet-bomb every employee of every company with scam messages all at once. They don’t care if 99.9% of these attempts fail because those attempts cost them nothing, and a single mistake can be all it takes to invite a breach.
And those leaks can come from anyone. Even the most junior cashier or intern can mistakenly hand out sensitive information like passwords, customer data, or payment information. That’s why ordinary employees are the modern hacker’s target of choice.
Fortunately, there are a few simple ways to make your employees tough targets for scammers.
1. Use the Principle of Least Privilege
One key element of zero trust cybersecurity is the principle of least privilege. It’s a simple concept: People can’t reveal what they don’t know, and they can’t share access they don’t have. Therefore, one of the best ways to prevent and mitigate breaches is to make sure no person or application has access to anything they don’t need to do their jobs.
The principle of least privilege is simple in theory, but challenging in practice. Implementing it requires every single employee to adhere strictly and consistently to your security policies. That’s hard work, and most organizations need help setting it up. If you could use a hand implementing security policies, don’t hesitate to contact us.
2. Conceal Your Staff List
One great way to prevent hackers from contacting your employees is to keep your staff records private. AI hacking tools identify potential targets by scraping businesses’ websites and social media platforms to identify their employees, so keeping that information confidential makes them a lot harder to target.
This isn’t an option in every sector, and it won’t eliminate scams or ransomware attacks completely. Still, it’s a great way to reduce cyber risk for businesses that can pull it off.
3. Host a Mandatory Cybersecurity Awareness Training Program
A sharp-eyed employee is the best scam blocker you can find. They don’t need any technical skills; just vigilance, a sense for when something is off, and an idea of what to look out for.
Fortunately, these are skills that you can teach to anyone. All it takes is a short training program to teach your employees cybersecurity best practices and show them what to look out for (plus occasional refreshers as time goes on).
While it’s no substitute for a full security stack, a workplace cybersecurity awareness training program is an effective way to protect your business against cyberattacks. It’s more affordable than most other security measures, and it empowers your employees to protect your company, fostering a culture of shared responsibility.
Teach Employees to Protect Your Business With Cybersecurity Training
Hackers have made employees your first line of defense. It’s your job to make that defense a strong one, and the best way to do so is through mandatory cybersecurity awareness training. To get the best results, make sure you have a high-quality program that engages your employees, showing them how to protect your company and why they should care.
It’s just as important to ensure your employees complete the program on time. When employees fail to complete training courses, it’s almost always due to practical barriers rather than laziness. You can mandate training all you want, but unless you give your employees the means and the time to complete it, they’re simply not going to.
To remove barriers to cybersecurity training, LogicalNet offers clients access to ClipTraining, a self-service cybersecurity training platform where employees can easily complete courses. We also offer personalized cybersecurity training in-person or online to engage your employees and teach them about your unique security needs.
Ready to teach your employees to protect your business? Contact us to learn how we can help.