To survive in business, companies must learn to manage risks. Most accept the fact that no risk can be prevented indefinitely, however, many businesses (especially SMBs) are not prepared for a cyber attack. With companies around the world becoming victims to cyber attacks it has become imperative for Managed Service Providers, especially those in the Information Technology (IT), to consider offering their clients more security or risk their business models not surviving the next 3-5 years.
If you are handling any aspect of a business’s infrastructure, regardless of whether you’d like to admit it or not, safeguarding the data within said structure falls on you. The sooner you accept that fact, the better.
In order to protect your business, you have to protect your customers. There are some of you out there who understand this and have begun offering security services on some level. Some may offer physical security solutions such as cameras, RFID technology, bio-metrics that aid in protecting the physical infrastructure from potential theft or other nefarious activities. In kind, cyber-security is as important, if not greater than previously employed conventional methods.
Consider the wealth of information that can be found on your client’s systems. Some of them contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII), that if accessed and downloaded by an unauthorized party can instantly wreak havoc not only on a client’s business but your (the MSPs) reputation.
Now, what some of you may be saying is, “only enterprises need to worry about this kind of thing, hackers normally only target the big fish because they have the information they want anyway. Besides, we have AV, VPNs and all that good jazz, we have not been attacked yet.” We’ve heard it before. It’s this kind of hubris that is worrisome to consultants and security experts globally.
Honestly, the mainstream does not do a great job of highlighting the fact that this is actually a more widespread issue and is not isolated specifically to mid-market or enterprise companies. However, all that is talked about are major players being hacked: Sony, Target, Equifax, etc. This could not be further from the truth.
Do not take our word for it. Men lie, women lie, numbers fortunately, do not. The National Cyber Security Alliance discovered two alarming stats:
Almost 50 percent of small businesses have experienced a cyber attack.
More than 70 percent of attacks target small businesses.
Want more numbers? Fine. Cisco, possibly the world leader in networking and cyber security has a report that clearly denotes not only how often attacks occur, but what the impact can be to a business. We highly encourage you to take a look at it when you have a moment (Cisco CyberSecurity Special Report).
How many small businesses can afford more than 8 hours of downtime due to an attack?
Consider the impact that can have on revenue if you are unable to service clients because your systems are down. Now compound the lack of income due to the inability to service clients with the cost of having staff on hand (the majority of which may be twiddling their thumbs since the system is down) – they need to get paid too. Are we beginning to see how quickly an attack can turn things grim for clients?
Many businesses are not familiar enough with their infrastructure or their security’s ability to prevent attacks. Many assume that since they are working alongside a Managed Service Provider who invoices them for firewall services and antivirus protection that all is well. They do not consider the need to have log monitoring, or intrusion detection services or even basic penetration testing on their websites that are directly connected to their environments.
We’ve taken the liberty to combine some alarming statistics, not because we are in the business of using scare tactics to generate sales. It is, if nothing more a means for us to highlight a huge opportunity for our clients and prospects. You can download the infographic here: (ADD LINK TO CYBERSECURITY INFOGRAPHIC)
If you are an MSP and you are not 100% sure if you are prepared for this or are not sure where to even begin, we can help with that.
If you are an SMB, Mid-Market or Enterprise and you need assistance with penetration testing, we can definitely assist with that as well.
