The 1977 release of Star Wars: Episode IV was a cultural phenomenon. The story chronicles the conflict between the evil Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance, culminating the destruction of the Empire’s almost-moon-sized super weapon, the Death Star.
Protagonist Luke Skywalker was able to foil the Empire’s plan by exploiting a particle exhaust vent leading directly to the reactor’s core. This tiny design flaw was all it took to crash Darth Vader’s expensive master plan.
While we may not have X-wing star fighters in our galaxy, terrestrial small businesses face another type of high-tech threat – cyberattacks.
Politically-motivated hacking, or ‘hacktivism’ – has gained widespread media attention in the past few years with such high-profile cases as the Democratic National Committee email leak.
While it may seem hacktivists will only aim for political targets, businesses are not immune to cyberattacks either. In 2010, MasterCard, PayPal and Visa were targeted by Anonymous as part of a protest supporting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. In many ways, this was a wakeup call to companies everywhere that no one was off limits.
In the same way the Rebel Alliance was able to foil the Death Star, so too are hacktivists able to penetrate business security measures. All it takes is a single security gap.
Womp Rats!
There are plenty of ways hackers can infiltrate your organization. Phishing, spoofing, spyware and digital eavesdropping can all be used to snare valuable business information including email correspondents, multimedia presentations, financial documents and identity information. Fortunately, attacks of this nature are almost entirely avoidable.
The best way to prevent attacks is to think like a hacker. Identify your weak spots and work to address them. Do you have an insecure Wi-Fi connection? Or maybe your software applications lack the proper security patches? While your company may have any number of vulnerabilities, the vast majority of data breaches are due to employee negligence.
Remind your employees to avoid opening suspicious emails or text messages. Spam links and attachments are often used to smuggle harmful software into your organization.
Ditto for unauthorized downloads. Malware is frequently inserted into free or open-source applications online. One click and boom! Your computer network is infected with spyware. Some malware even allows remote users to control your device so they can spread their harmful software to your contacts, in what is known as a ‘bot net.’
If you don’t want your computer to join the droid army, it’s time to arm your team with the knowledge and training they need to prevent cyberattacks.
Raise the Shields!
While some hacktivists slip past narrow security gaps, others prefer large-scale assaults to derail online operations. As mentioned before, PayPal and MasterCard were struck by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks which flooded their web services with fraudulent requests, thereby blocking legitimate users from accessing these sites. Business disruption cost PayPal an estimated $5.5 million in damages.
This DDoS attack was achieved by using a Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC). This sci-fi weapon is freely available online to any hacker looking to wreak havoc on your business.
If you are struck by a DDoS attack, it’s important to contact your ISP or hosting provider so you can regain control of your website.
A New Hope
Fortunately, even if hackers are able to disable your shields, you can still preserve the integrity of your small business thanks to cyber insurance providers. Cyber insurance providers offer policies to match your business needs and can protect you from identity thefts, exploitation, loss of business and more.
While the Death Star didn’t have the luxury of choosing from a list of cyber insurance providers, your business does. Safeguard your company against cyberattacks. And may the force be with you.
