The cybersecurity of your company is important. Without secure protection in place, your website and network will be vulnerable to attacks. The problem is trying to figure out just where the cracks in your armour are so that you can prevent hackers from exploiting them.
By closing these gaps on time you are going to make it more difficult for hackers and those with malicious intent to get into your system. You’ll stop them from doing a huge amount of damage to your website and to your business. But how do you find the vulnerabilities in your site and network?
For many the solution is simple: hire someone who knows how to look for these vulnerabilities. Believe it or not the best person for the job might actually be a hacker, so can you hire a hacker and should you do it?
The cost of cybercrime
It used to be that thinking about your security online wasn’t much of an issue. However, there has been a huge rise in cybercrime, which is forcing many businesses to start to take their cybersecurity seriously. For many, they find that the methods of protection they currently have in place just aren’t enough.
It is estimated that the average cost of cybercrime has risen in the last five years. In fact, it is said that the cost has risen by a huge 200%. This shows just how important your business needs to take cybersecurity. Without the proper security in place, you could end up losing money as well as valuable private information and client data.
The issue is that cybercrime is only going to increase. As you can see below, the more businesses move their functions online, the more areas there will be for cybercriminals to target. This can really open your business up to attacks, and it is why so many businesses are now trying to ensure that they have the best cybersecurity to combat this problem.
According to McAfee, these are the risks cybercrime poses to the world… and therefore to your business.
What hacking could cost your company
A lot of businesses fall into the mindset of “it’ll never happen to me”. You may have set up a security system a while back which you completely trust, or you may have a basic free system in place to keep your data safe. This isn’t enough, and trusting that it simply won’t happen to you is putting everything at risk. You need to take steps to ensure your private data is safe.
Not sure how bad data breaches can get? Why not read about the biggest data breaches of 2016? You can see just how much damage breaches of data can cause, and that hackers won’t simply target the big businesses. They will target anyone, especially if they can see vulnerabilities they can exploit.
Most companies are able to recover from these attacks. They come back bigger, better, and stronger. However, these hacks have a huge impact on the companies. They aren’t seen as reliable by their customers. This isn’t what you want for your business. People are still to this day talking about the Sony hack of 2014, and they are not the only company to have been hit hard by hackers.
Unfortunately, these companies have learned all about their weaknesses the hard way: they have been the victim of a hack. The hacks have pointed out the flaws in their cybersecurity and how hackers can get in. They have put their private data at risk and lost a lot of money trying to repair the damage done.
To beat a hacker…
You might be a business owner who has decided that you want to take the cybersecurity of your business more seriously. You don’t want to be in the same shoes as those businesses who found themselves the victim of hacks and then fixed the problem. You want to be proactive, not reactive, when it comes to cybersecurity.
But how are you supposed to find the cracks in your carefully crafted armour before hackers do? As much as you check your system it might not be enough. Why? Because you aren’t thinking like a hacker.
There might be areas you have not spotted or aren’t even aware of because you are looking at your website and security from the point of view of a business, and not someone eager to gain access and steal your data. Sometimes to beat a hacker you have to start thinking like a hacker.
Hackers will exploit anything, from weak passwords to website vulnerabilities, in your cybersecurity to gain access to your private data. As a company this could cost you a lot!
Can you hire a hacker?
For many companies the very thought of hiring a hacker makes them panic. They worry that hiring a hacker is going to cause a number of problems and put their sensitive information at risk. However, it is actually possible for you to hire a hacker for the good of your company.
When we think of hackers, most people think of the malicious hackers, better known as “black hat” hackers. These are the people using brute force methods and everything at their disposal to try and attack your business. They want your data and they will do anything they can to get it.
On the other side of this, you have ethical hackers. Referred to as “white hat” hackers, those with ethical hacking training are able to use their skills for good. They are experts in cybersecurity and know just how hackers think.
Because they know how they think, they are able to identify any security vulnerabilities your systems and networks may have. There are many different techniques that they may use to do this, but by far the most effective is through penetration testing.
Penetration testing
A penetration test sounds like a scary thing, especially if you have little understanding about how cybersecurity works. To put it simply, a penetration test, better known as a pen test, is when your computer system, network, or web application is tested for vulnerabilities hackers might exploit.
The pen test will highlight the areas of your cybersecurity which need work. By running these tests, you’ll be able to spot the problems before hackers can take advantage of them. You can then fix these vulnerabilities and make your system more secure, saving your private data and information from hackers intent to cause damage.
Many people don’t understand how useful running penetration tests can be. Those conducting the tests have such a strong understanding of the way that hackers attack systems that they can really help you plug the holes in your cybersecurity. But again, people don’t realise how valuable this is. Running penetration tests can really save your business, a one business learned the hard way.
This might be the best thing you can do to help ensure your website and network is as secure as it can be, and this is a service we offer here at ODS. We employ a number of different techniques to help spot any exploitable flaws in your system.
You will get a full analysis of your web application, which will point out any vulnerabilities hackers might take advantage of. We will also employ white box testing, as well as black box testing to simulate a real attack on your site. These techniques will help to show you just where your system is vulnerable so that you can fix it.
Many of us feel as though our systems are safe because we haven’t put them to the test. We trust our cybersecurity without really checking it, which is where we come in. Because the ODS team has extensive experience of penetration testing, our computer analysts can help to test your business. Putting your system to the test will make you feel a lot more secure, as you can deal with an errors or problems that show up during the test. After all, it is better to be safe than sorry… especially when it comes to your business!
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