Business Tips

The Importance of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month for Small Businesses

Cybersecurity

The Importance of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month for Small Businesses:

Now in its 17th year, National Cybersecurity Awareness Month recognizes the importance of cybersecurity throughout the United States. The need for strong cybersecurity grows each year in correlation to the amount of Internet users across the nation. This year the NCSA’s theme will be “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart.”, encouraging business owners to take responsibility for their own cybersecurity knowledge while taking the steps necessary to create a safer and more secure online experience. Here is a list of free NCSAM and CISA Cybersecurity resources that look to promote nationwide cybersecurity.

For small businesses, the Internet allows for owners to position their products and services in front of new and larger audiences, work more efficiently and keep their customers connected. No matter how your small business is utilizing the Internet, having a cybersecurity plan in place is key to creating a culture of confidence around your business. The theft of digital information is the most common type of fraud in the US. This means that it’s up to small business owners to protect their company data as well as their customers private data from these threats.

The evolution of cyber-attacks and how to combat them:

Cyber-attacks are continually evolving, therefore the layers of security that protect your small business must evolve too. Here are a couple of examples of modern cyberattacks that your business could be vulnerable to:

  • A DDoS or “denial-of-service” attack is when a cybercriminal floods your system with large amounts of traffic to try and overwhelm your system. Subsequently, your small business is then susceptible to further attacks which could lead to your entire system crashing.
  • A Domain Name System is a foundational component of the Internet, essentially it maps domain names to IP addresses. In a DNS attack, a cybercriminal can redirect visitors to the wrong domain and expose them to phishing schemes and other harmful behaviors.

 

Optimum Business Secure Internet plans provide a cloud-based first layer of DDoS and DNS security to protect your small businesses’ Internet connectivity. There were more than 137 mitigated DDoS high volume attacks across Optimum Business customers in the month of September 2020 alone (1). Our built-in DDoS protection allowed for those small businesses to operate through those attacks with no concern.

Blocked DNS requests come in at an average of 1 million per day, this helps your computer security by preventing communications with known bad sites, eliminating malware’s ability to install onto your company’s computers. There was a total of 74 million DNS queries blocked from Optimum customers in the month of September 2020 (2). Our Secure Internet’s DNS Security works to protect your business and your customers from phishing and malware attacks 24/7.  

Why Optimum’s Business Secure Internet is right for your small business:

With businesses having so many devices connected to the Internet at one time, security is more important than ever before. Having the right cybersecurity tools in place to protect you, your customers and your data can help empower your small business. Many owners underestimate their level of risk for cyber-attacks, they think because they have less data than larger companies that they won’t be targeted. This false belief coupled with notion that proper internet defenses are too costly could damage a business in the long-term.

Optimum Business Secure Internet is a cost-effective security option that can fit within any small businesses’ budget. During this Cybersecurity Month take the steps necessary to protect your business. Click here to learn more about our products and add the layer of security you need to stay up and running through anything.

 

1. Altice USA, September 2020, Optimum DDoS Data Report, Arbor Database

2. Altice USA, September 2020, Optimum DNS Data Report, Cisco Database