To err is to be human! Unfortunately, a fair whack of threats to a computer network is from us, humans. We click on dodgy links, download stuff without checking it, and click on attachments which end up to be suspect. It isn’t going to stop but we can protect against by minimising the potential for any of these to be possible.
Human Error
There are some dodgy browser extensions out there, which people inadvertently use. Check this out The Case for Limiting Your Browser Extensions. An employee installed a program to help the company with their work. Unfortunately, it ended up injecting some rogue code into the company’s website exposing users of the website to malicious scripts.
Employees Deleting Data
We’ve all been there! There is a reason why we have the recycle bin/trash etc. Though sometimes it won’t even be untrashable! Especially if you are one to throw the dice by cutting and pasting or drag and drop. Remember Murphy’s law, if it is possible when you cut there is nothing when you paste, it is possible (believe me it is) it will happen one day!
By the way, the correct safe way is copying – pasting – comparing the data – deleting the source data
Moving on from human error we have humans being bad!
Malicious actions
Malicious employees wanting your data. If you have a Google Drive or Office 365 account, sign on to drive.google.com for example and go to a folder. Up the top, there is an arrow pointing down. If you click this you get options one of them being download. Now you can download the WHOLE folder. You can basically potentially have your way with all of the companies client information, for example.
USB sticks
USB sticks enabled on a computer. Ok, a couple of problems with this one. One, you don’t know where that stick has been and two, someone could come in and swipe a whole lot of data. With the size of USB sticks and the amount they can hold on them nowadays, it is a very real possibility that someone could swipe ALL of a typical small businesses data!
Hackers
Hackers have different motives depending on the industry. Most small business hackers are looking for monetary gain. Hackers can gain access through social engineering, insecure firewalls or they could gain access due to insecure passwords.
As an example of an insecure firewall, they could deliver a “package” which will install perhaps a cryptovirus, which they use to encrypt all document and media files it can. The data would only be accessible by and encryption “key” which only the hackers possess. Generally, along with the package, they have a message on how the victims can unencrypt the data. The hackers may or may not hand over the encryption key upon receiving the funds so the data can be unencrypted.
Conclusion
Humans are definitely a big risk for a network! Having a mixture of policies, systems and education can help mitigate the threat to a computer network.
As a business owner, you probably know the importance of having your IT Systems properly set up so that they don’t let you down. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell if your systems are failing until it’s too late. An unexpected failure might slow down or stop your business completely. Are you all set to avoid the worst?
If you want the peace of mind your IT systems will not let you down, request today a free strategy session with Dominic.
The first step is a free strategy session
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