5 Proactive Measures for Small Businesses to Take
Cybercriminals are exploiting software vulnerabilities at unprecedented speeds, potentially costing your small business millions of dollars in lost revenue, legal fees and regulatory fines.
That’s not to mention the loss of data and public trust that comes with a security incident.
Of the 138 vulnerabilities that were disclosed to Google in 2023, 70% of those that were exploited as zero-days were actually variants of previously known flaws. In other words, attackers weren’t always discovering brand-new bugs. They were finding new ways to exploit old weaknesses before patches could catch up.
That’s still a zero-day, because there was no fix available at the time of the attack. And it means organizations had no opportunity to patch before being exposed. It reinforces just how fast and creative threat actors have become
Furthermore, Google found that the average time it takes to exploit a vulnerability is rapidly decreasing. In 2018, the average time-to-exploit was 63 days, which has declined to just five days in 2023.
As a small business, this is a scary trend. It means attacks are happening faster than ever, leaving little time for the traditional approach of patch rollouts or relying solely on perimeter defenses like firewalls.
These findings highlight the urgent need for a more proactive and layered security strategy. Waiting to patch or relying on “build-a-wall” defenses simply won’t suffice in this new environment.
Proactive Measures to Implement
To stay ahead of cyberthreats, we encourage organizations to embrace modern approaches to security that include:
1. Managed Detection and Response (Real-time threat detection)
Cybersecurity today calls for more than building a wall and hoping it keeps attackers out of your network. You need a managed service to actively monitor and respond to threats 24 hours per day, seven days per week, 365 days per year.
A managed detection and response (MDR) service oversees your IT environment, quickly neutralizing threats before they cause damage.
In addition to MDR, preauthorization to isolate saves us valuable time in the event of an incident. This gives us your permission to isolate your network, preventing an attack from spreading, without waiting for your approval to isolate.
2. Network segmentation
Network segmentation divides a network into smaller subnetworks to not only improve performance but also to reduce the attack surface for a hacker.
These subnetworks can be isolated from one another to protect the network as a whole. Think of network segmentation as locking separate rooms in a house. If a burglar breaks into your bedroom, they can’t easily access the other rooms, reducing the overall risk.
When attackers infiltrate a network, they like to move around the network quietly, taking notes and understanding the network they’ve penetrated before launching their attack.
With network segmentation, it restricts an attacker’s ability to move laterally through an organization’s network by isolating critical systems.
“Today’s attackers move fast, and it’s vital that your organization needs to respond even faster. We can implement proactive measures to keep your sensitive data safe from cybercriminals.”
3. Removing local administrator privileges
Local administrator access gives users total control over their computer, giving them privileges to delete system or network files, install and uninstall software, add or remove users, and more.
Anyone with local administrator access essentially has a master key to your network, so it stands to reason that we limit the number of users who have it. More master keys mean more opportunities for cybercriminals to steal those keys and attack your network.
Removing those privileges allows us to prohibit malware from gaining control of your network. With no administrator privileges, the malware can remain isolated on one device and cannot spread to the rest of your network.
4. Host-based firewalls
A host-based firewall is software that protects a single device from malware, viruses and other harmful scripts by scanning incoming and outgoing traffic.
It’s different from a network firewall, which is hardware that protects entire networks rather than one device. If you liken a network firewall to a bouncer at a club, you can think of a host-based firewall as the bouncer of the VIP area in that club. It’s an extra layer of defense that protects against unauthorized access — helpful if a network firewall fails to stop an attack.
Host-based firewalls allow organizations to tailor security to specific devices, meaning each device can have customized rules based on the role or data it has access to.
5.) Patching efficiency
Attackers don’t just chase the latest zero-days. Many successful breaches still start with old, well-documented vulnerabilities that were never patched.
Not every patch needs to be applied immediately, but some definitely do. Prioritizing based on severity, exploitability and the systems affected is critical.
Ensuring your software and hardware are always updated to the latest versions will go a long way toward securing your network.
We have a saying in the MSP world: “If it can’t be patched, time to pitch.”
Never utilize older hardware or software that its vendor no longer supports. Upgrade or replace to ensure your network is protected.
Ready to Improve Your Security Measures?
Today’s attackers move fast, and it’s vital that your organization needs to respond even faster. We can implement proactive measures to keep your sensitive data safe from cybercriminals.
Contact us here to learn more about how we can keep business running smoothly while increasing productivity, security and profitability.
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