The steady rise of e-commerce platforms and cloud-enabled business enterprises has paved the way for new sorts of cyber threats to stroll in and endanger their operations. What makes them worse is that they are more unpredictable than any threats to businesses. They can come from anywhere, be challenging to trace, and take effect in a matter of seconds.
This makes small businesses, who usually leverage technology to scale comfortably – a susceptible target. Unless they consult business continuity service providers, they are vulnerable to this handful of cyber disasters.
Malware Attack
Malicious software or malware pertains to any software that infiltrates an entire computer system unauthorized to steal, delete, or withhold any confidential and valuable operation, access, or data. Viruses, which can corrupt files or even entire operating systems, and ransomware, which keep your files hostage until you pay the cyber-attacker a fee, are some examples of malware.
Such an attack disrupts business operations by breaking down your entire network infrastructure and denying your team crucial access. Just imagine if you’re rendered incapable of opening, using, or deleting any of your files.
Data Breach
Similarly, data breaches bear malicious intentions as well and can also enter your network through unmonitored activities. However, these vile acts have a more specific target: bank and other financial records, credit card information, confidential business plans, or any and other top-secret data that these thieves can get their hands on.
What can make matters worse is that businesses aren’t even aware that a person inside the company is the victim. This is because someone from within the company can initiate business-targeted phishing. With insider access, they can create fake and misleading websites themselves or feed vital information to an attacker outside.
Identity Theft
Identity theft is a possible offshoot of a data breach and poses an entirely different threat of its own to businesses. Once cyber-attackers gain access to your most personal data, they can then pretend to be you across digital platforms and make illicit transactions. There’s no evident consolation here: either you end up losing a considerable percentage of your financial assets through credit card purchases or your business’s name is tarnished.
This is why both big and small businesses should conduct regular credit and financial audits and put up fraud filters within their computer network.
Network Outages
As much as technology has advanced in this day and age, network outages are still reasonably frequent. If you’re an e-commerce business or a company that relies on traffic to your website, then even just seconds of unexpected connection loss would be your worst nightmare.
The same inconvenience also happens to your cloud server host. You might not be running your business online. Still, if you resort to a variety of cloud-based applications and depend on real-time analytics, then a sudden server breakdown can also cost you a fortune.
Natural Disasters
If you think you’re safe from natural disasters just because your business is only present digitally, then you’re mistaken. In one form or another, your entire network and storage are still harnessed in a location. Depending on how secure this location is, any number of natural disasters can cause unaccounted destruction to it.
It is also possible for Internet accessibility to be gravely affected by severe storms and typhoons. Entire cell towers can collapse, or fiber optic connections can be damaged, rendering your business paralyzed.
Even having a robust IT team is no match to a threat that’s unforeseen and undetected. Thus, even small or digital businesses need a continuity plan. They make sure that your business can bounce back with ease.