Running head: CYBERSECURITY IN SMALL AND MEDIUMS ENTERPRISES

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Cybersecurity in Small and Medium Enterprises

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Cybersecurity Issues in Small and Medium Enterprises

Cyber-attacks in Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) have been on the rise for the past

decade at least. The increasing dependency of these small businesses on Information

Technology has largely contributed to the rise of cybercrimes perpetrated on these small

enterprises. The reaction of the small business owners to cybersecurity issues has been relatively

low and this has made the SME industry a favourable ground for hackers. SMEs need to

prioritize cybersecurity in their respective companies. Generally, SMEs put little effort into

trying to counter cyber-crimes as most believe that SMEs carry less financial gain for hackers to

be interested in SMEs.

Cyber risk is not a new notion in modern society but many companies, particularly small

and medium-sized enterprises may not be mindful of the actual and devastating impacts of a

cyber-attack. The small and mediums businesses face quite a number of cyber threats and risks.

Gone are the days where cyber-attacks only targeted large cooperates and companies; in today’s

world, any business large or small can be a potential target of a cyber-attack. The reluctant

attitude of small and medium business owners towards cybersecurity has resulted in SMBs being

a top target because they lack comprehensive cybersecurity strategic plans to protect their

networks from cybercriminals.

Ransomware, phishing, and insider threats continue to top the list of cyber-attacks

targeted on companies and governments. Data leakages have also been on the rise. These are all

potential cyber risks that are likely to cause damage to SMBs. It is therefore of paramount

importance that SMBs prioritize the implementation of cybersecurity control measures to detect,

prevent, and mitigate cyber-attacks. Most of the afore-mentioned cyber-attacks leverage weak

access control systems to gain unauthorized access to internal organizational networks. The first
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line of defence hence involves making sure that users are who they say they are and they are

accessing the data that they are authorized only. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is one key

function to ensure that users are who they claim to be. While authentication is the process by

which a computer validates the identity of a user (i.e. username and password), multi-factor

authentication adds a layer of protection and security against one of the most common types of a

breach—compromised credentials (Why Multi-Factor Authentication Is a Must | LBMC Security,

n.d.). Multi-factor authentication has evolved as the single most effective control to insulate an

organization against remote attacks and when implemented correctly, can prevent most threat

actors from easily gaining an initial foothold into your organization, even if credentials become

compromised (Why Multi-Factor Authentication Is a Must | LBMC Security, n.d.).

With most employees having to work from home, new attack avenues for cybercriminals

have also surfaced. SMBs must consider secure ways for their employees to access company

resources over secure tunnels. One technology that offers this service is Virtual Private Networks

(VPN). VPN is a private network that operates over a public network transit the encrypted

information so that attackers are not able to use it. The purpose of VPN is to provide the different

security elements such as authenticity, confidentiality, and data integrity(“The Vital Role of

Virtual Private Network (VPN) in Making Secure Connection Over Internet World,” 2020).
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References

The Vital Role of Virtual Private Network (VPN) in Making Secure Connection Over Internet
World. (2020). International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 8(6), 2236–
2339. https://doi.org/10.35940/ijrte.f8335.038620

Why Multi-Factor Authentication Is a Must | LBMC Security. (n.d.). Retrieved July 31, 2020,
from https://www.lbmc.com/blog/why-multi-factor-authentication-is-a-must/