Excuses why Small Businesses don`t bother with security

For many small businesses, computer security is dismissed very easily, after all, it makes everything so much simpler. Once these businesses realise that they have a genuine excuse or reason for not having the right security, convincing them otherwise can sometimes be a difficult task.

We`ve heard quite a few excuses so we thought we`d share our top 5:

No one cares about my small business

Many believe that cyber crooks will not target them. Why would they think about targeting a small business or an individual?

In reality, cyber crooks take on a low-value – high-volume stance when it comes to extorting money from businesses or individuals. It is more beneficial for them to target 100,000 people and take £70 as opposed to targeting an individual or business for £7,000,000.

The CryptoLocker gang did just this and it worked for them. It is easier for spammers to target a higher number of people and this is why it important to consider yourself a potential target. Sometimes people choose to keep their old devices working because it seems like a difficult task of replacing it. This is often the case with operating systems. Replacing these things can prove costly but if you choose to continue to run an old system or device that uses

It`s going to cost too much to upgrade

Sometimes people choose to keep their old devices working because it seems like a difficult task of replacing it. This is often the case with operating systems. Replacing these things can prove costly but if you choose to continue to run an old system or device that uses old software you are at risk.

Old software can act as a security hole that the criminals can exploit and this is why you could be one of the first targets.

But I don`t use Windows

Having a different computer that runs a different operating system such as a Mac does not protect you from having your data stolen. If you lose your device or if it is stolen, your data is at risk. Your data is worth something to someone and therefore thieves who get hold of your laptop will look to sell your data on quickly. Therefore, believing that a different brand of computer will offer you more protection is not always the case.

Won`t that slow my computer down though?

Does security slow your system down? Does it really? Disk encryption software such as BitLocker for Windows or FileVault for OS X run almost unnoticed in the background. This is all down to improvements in computer hardware. Many believe that anti-virus software is also to blame but this is only the case when people turn on the many different settings. This leads to the software running more processes which requires more resources.

I only ever go to safe websites

Browsing “Safe” sites is not as safe as many may think it is. How do you know how safe these site really are? Even those sites have adverts that could pose a threat, especially if they are hacked.

Using reliable web filtering technology will check each URL and it also runs a check on the content before your browser processes it. Therefore, safe sites are not always as safe as people believe.

Finally…

There are many excuses out there that may make small businesses feel better about not having the right security in place.

However, having an excuse is dangerous. Sometimes, there are legitimate reasons for not having security in place but if you are taking risks then having alternative ways to minimise the risks can help.

An example of this would be keeping your old printer while using old software on an old operating system. You are at risk because the old software leaves you exposed, however, choosing to use a firewall will ensure that your computer has an extra level of security and that can only be a good thing.

Remember, it is easy to do nothing but if things go wrong then you will be extremely sorry that security remained at the bottom of your list of priorities.

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