4 Questions Mid-market Companies Should Ask Themselves About Data Protection

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4 Questions Mid-market Companies Should Ask Themselves About Data Protection

Woman works from home on laptopWhen the working world went remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many never returned to the office. This created new data-security challenges for many businesses, with an increasing amount of sensitive data now being stowed in the cloud, and workers continuing to access company data from off-site locations.

How safe is cloud security, which now often relies on “zero trust” security principles based on a user’s location rather than user credentials? While some worry that cloud security is less reliable than on-premise security, that’s not actually the case, particularly for mid-market businesses. The fact is that your data is actually more secure in a remote data center managed by security experts than by your in-house IT team.

You may feel a false sense of security by having your IT department guard your servers in a closet — but this strategy is extremely risky when it comes to data protection. It’s not standard for mid-market IT departments to possess expert skills in cloud security and data security, which are needed to properly safeguard data. Many mid-market companies, particularly those not in highly regulated industries, do not currently have Security Operations Centers.

What’s more, it came to light at the end of 2021 that cyber-insurance renewals are becoming at times prohibitively expensive for all industries due to the exponential increase in cyber-attacks seen last year. The only way for mid-market companies in all industries to lower cyber-insurance premiums and ensure coverage is to implement enhanced data security measures.

Since data protection has become the most prevalent challenge in the cybersecurity market, it’s no surprise to see that according to Insights for Professionals, data protection is the main focus in 2022 for 85 percent of businesses surveyed; 37 percent plan to invest up to $500,000 on data protection in 2022, and 31 percent plan to invest more than $500,000 on data protection over the next 18 months. McKinsey also reports that 85 percent of midsize enterprises plan to boost their IT security spend until 2023.

All-Time High Cybercrime

Ransomware attacks increased over 105%Still, it would be misleading to imply that cloud security comes with no challenges. One of the biggest ongoing concerns are ransomware attacks, which increased over 105 percent in 2021. Cybercriminals continue to attain new levels of sophistication, with payment demands skyrocketing into tens of millions of dollars. According to McKinsey, the costs related to cybercrime will continue to ascend in the coming years, with a 15 percent yearly increase leading to cybercrime costs reaching $10.5 trillion a year in 2025. Looking ahead over the next decade, by 2031, Cybersecurity Ventures estimates ransomware costs alone should reach $265 billion.

McKinsey reports that there are multiple motivations for these attacks, headed by the fact that pandemic-weary companies have become ripe for security vulnerabilities. Also, as advancing digitization continues to drive connectivity and employees now log in from anywhere — including unsecured home networks — it makes life easier for ransomware hackers. The traditional smash and grab approach is now being replaced with bad actors “dwelling” undetected within victims’ environments, which gives cybercriminals the lay of the land in understanding where the highest value information resides before selling it to the highest bidder.

Another motivation for the continued attacks is their success: as more companies are forced to pay ransoms, hackers are further incentivized to build on their well-paid victories and continue innovating on this lucrative threat. Specific sectors are particularly at risk; keep in mind that in the U.S., supply-chain attacks rose 42 percent in Q1 of 2021, victimizing as many as 7 million people, while McKinsey shared that “security threats against industrial control systems and operational technology more than tripled in 2020.”  The war in Ukraine has taught us lessons about attacks compromising infrastructure, utilities and government that can debilitate nations and be weaponized.

Paying Up

These massive numbers can seem overwhelming, and can also make it difficult to tell how much a ransomware attack can affect an individual company. To give you some perspective, consider these stats:

  • NPR reported that Colonial Pipeline paid a $4.4 million ransom after the company shut down operations.
  • CNBC reported that global meat producer JBS paid ransomware hackers $11 million.
  • Insider reported that global insurance provider CNA Financial forked over a reported mind-blowing $40 million post-cyber-attack.
  • The Washington Post reported that a ransomware attack on U.S. software provider Kaseya targeted the firm’s remote-computer-management tool and endangered up to 2,000 companies globally.

These costs are also just the tip of the iceberg for the companies victimized by ransomware hackers. Additional costs of such an attack include everything from paying third parties (like legal, PR, and negotiation firms), not to mention the opportunity costs of having executives, staff, and teams disconnected from their day-to-day roles for weeks or months to deal with the attack’s aftermath. Perhaps the biggest unaccounted-for expense is the resulting lost revenue.

Ask These 4 Questions

What can mid-market companies do in the face of these threats to their data’s safety? They should focus on strategies that address ransomware prevention, preparation, response, and recovery. Since this is an ongoing journey, threats continue to evolve and improve — so it’s critical to keep up to date with new threats of increasing sophistication, while being ready with cybersecurity strategies and best practices. The goal is to continue to build cyber maturity that creates a resilient approach. You may not be able to stop attacks from occurring, but when they do, they won’t have the same impact if you’ve prepared in this way.

As a starting point, these are four questions that every mid-market company should ask itself to determine the organization’s readiness for data defense:

  1. When it comes to our people, do we have security focused IT leadership, trained cloud security experts, and data security experts?
  2. When it comes to our process, do we have defined IT security processes for proactively managing the security posture of our environments?
  3. When it comes to our technology, are we 100 percent confident in our security tech and our ability to actively monitor and detect threats around the clock?
  4. When it comes to our cloud architecture, are we confident that it allows for scalability without sacrificing security assurances?

Security components: people, process, technology, cloud

If the answer is “no” or “I don’t know” to any of these questions, it is time to get your house in order — you are at risk. To stay alive, compete, and drive value, mid-market companies should shift their focus to data analytics, data management, security, and compliance. This requires a cloud-based data center, a cloud-native data management platform, and cloud-native analytics. Ensuring the right infrastructure to maximize the capabilities of data centers — and how they are able to manage and store data — is crucial to effective mid-market digital transformation.


Aunalytics is a 2022 Inc. 5000 Honoree

Aunalytics Selected for Inc. Magazine’s 5000 List of the Nation’s Fastest-growing Private Companies for Two Years in a Row

Leading Cloud Data Management & Analytics Company Demonstrates Continued Momentum With its Focus on Helping Mid-market Businesses Accelerate Their Digital Transformation

 

South Bend, IN (August 18, 2022) - Aunalytics, a leading data management and analytics company delivering Insights-as-a-Service for mid-market businesses, has been named by Inc. magazine as one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies included in its annual Inc. 5000 list. This marks the second consecutive year that Aunalytics earned a spot on the prestigious ranking, representing a one-of-a-kind look at the most successful companies within the economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent businesses. Facebook, Chobani, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

“The accomplishment of building one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., in light of recent economic roadblocks, cannot be overstated,” said Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “Inc. is thrilled to honor the companies that have established themselves through innovation, hard work, and rising to the challenges of today.”

The companies on the 2022 Inc. 5000 have not only been successful, but have also demonstrated resilience amid supply chain woes, labor shortages, and the ongoing impact of Covid-19. Among the top 500, the average median three-year revenue growth rate soared to 2,144 percent. Together, those companies added more than 68,394 jobs over the past three years.

Aunalytics offers a robust, cloud-native platform built to deliver enterprise data management, powerful analytics, and AI-driven answers. From the onset, Aunalytics has been dedicated to empowering enterprise and mid-sized businesses located in secondary and tertiary markets, with advanced data management and analytics tools. Typically in these markets, the technical talent needed to use, maintain, and achieve value from the solution is scarce. Aunalytics provides its technology as a managed service paired with the expert talent needed to achieve ROI.

The analytics portion of the platform represents Aunalytics’ unique ability to unify all the elements necessary to process data and deliver AI end-to-end, from cloud infrastructure to data acquisition, organization, and machine learning models – all managed and run by Aunalytics as a secure managed service. Aunalytics continues to gain traction in industries such as financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing where companies are challenged with undertaking the digital transformation required to succeed in the modern world.

“We’re thrilled to be selected for the Inc. 5000 two years in a row – this truly demonstrates the accelerated growth Aunalytics has experienced as a result of providing advanced talent and tools that are typically not affordable for mid-market businesses,” said Rich Carlton, President of Aunalytics. “Our goal from the very beginning has been to address the midsize business sector and we remain committed to serving the best interests of our customers in this category because it is so critical for both innovation and the economy.”

Complete results of the Inc. 5000 can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.

 

Tweet this: .@Aunalytics Selected for Inc. Magazine’s 5000 List of the Nation’s Fastest-growing Private Companies for Second Consecutive Year #Inc5000 #Dataplatform #Dataanalytics #Dataintegration #Dataaccuracy #AdvancedAnalytics #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Masterdatamanagement #MDM #DataScientist #MachineLearning #ML #DigitalTransformation #FinancialServices

 

About Inc.

The world’s most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

For more information on the Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala, visit https://conference.inc.com/.

 

About Aunalytics

Aunalytics is a data platform company delivering answers for your business. Aunalytics provides Insights-as-a-Service to answer enterprise and mid-sized companies’ most important IT and business questions. The Aunalytics® cloud-native data platform is built for universal data access, advanced analytics and AI while unifying disparate data silos into a single golden record of accurate, actionable business information. Its DaybreakTM industry intelligent data mart combined with the power of the Aunalytics data platform provides industry-specific data models with built-in queries and AI to ensure access to timely, accurate data and answers to critical business and IT questions. Through its side-by-side digital transformation model, Aunalytics provides on-demand scalable access to technology, data science, and AI experts to seamlessly transform customers’ businesses. To learn more contact us at +1 855-799-DATA or visit Aunalytics at https://www.aunalytics.com  or on Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

PR Contact:
Denise Nelson
The Ventana Group for Aunalytics
(925) 858-5198
dnelson@theventanagroup.com


One Columbus

Aunalytics Extends Its Presence in Greater Columbus Area

Leading Data Platform Provider Joins One Columbus Organization to Help Foster Economic Development in the 11-County Region, and Is a Featured Presenter at a Cybersecurity Forum in Sydney on August 19

South Bend, IN (August 17, 2022) - Aunalytics, a leading data platform company delivering Insights-as-a-Service for mid-market businesses, announced today its membership in One Columbus, the economic development organization for the 11-county Columbus, Ohio region. With an office in Bellefontaine, Aunalytics is committed to contributing its resources to foster the economic well-being of the broader Columbus region.

Working with local and state partners, One Columbus serves as the business location resource for companies across Central Ohio and around the world as they grow, innovate, and compete within the global economy. Its mission is to lead a comprehensive regional growth strategy that develops and attracts the world’s most competitive companies, grows a highly adaptive workforce, prepares its communities for the future, and inspires corporate, academic and public innovation throughout the greater Columbus area.

“As with other regions of the country, the organizations in the Greater Columbus area are interested in increasing their competitive advantage through digital transformation,” said Robert Lizotte, Ohio Local Market Leader for Aunalytics. “As a member of One Columbus, we look forward to demonstrating how this shift can be accomplished in a more secure and efficient way to drive a higher return on business initiatives.”

Aunalytics also announced that its Chief Security Officer, Kerry Vickers, will speak in Sydney, Ohio at the Sydney Shelby Chamber of Commerce cybersecurity forum, “Do You Have a Plan?” on August 19, at 8amET. Vickers is one of nine subject matter experts who will outline the threats and the measures that can be taken to mitigate cyber invasions which occur on a daily basis, to organizations large and small.

 

Tweet this: .@Aunalytics Extends Its Presence in Greater Columbus Area #Cybersecurity #FinancialServices #Banks #CreditUnions #Dataplatform #DataAnalytics #Dataintegration #Dataaccuracy #AdvancedAnalytics #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Masterdatamanagement #MDM #DataScientist #MachineLearning #ML #DigitalTransformation #FinancialServices

 

About Aunalytics

Aunalytics is a data platform company delivering answers for your business. Named a Digital Innovator by analyst firm Intellyx, and selected for the prestigious Inc. 5000 list two years in a row, Aunalytics provides Insights-as-a-Service to answer enterprise and mid-sized companies’ most important IT and business questions. The Aunalytics® cloud-native data platform is built for universal data access, advanced analytics and AI while unifying disparate data silos into a single golden record of accurate, actionable business information. Its DaybreakTM industry intelligent data mart combined with the power of the Aunalytics data platform provides industry-specific data models with built-in queries and AI to ensure access to timely, accurate data and answers to critical business and IT questions. Through its side-by-side digital transformation model, Aunalytics provides on-demand scalable access to technology, data science, and AI experts to seamlessly transform customers’ businesses. To learn more contact us at +1 855-799-DATA or visit Aunalytics at https://www.aunalytics.com or on Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

PR Contact:
Denise Nelson
The Ventana Group for Aunalytics
(925) 858-5198
dnelson@theventanagroup.com


Shelby County Chamber Cybersecurity Forum

Sidney-Shelby County Chamber Cybersecurity Forum 2022

August 19, 2022

Sidney-Shelby County Chamber of Commerce

Cybersecurity Forum - Do You Have a Plan?

Sidney High School Auditorium, Sidney, OH

Kerry Vickers, CISO, speaking on on endpoint security and posture at Cybersecurity Forum

Kerry Vickers, the Chief Information Security Officer at Aunalytics, will be speaking during the Sidney-Shelby County Chamber of Commerce’s Cybersecurity Forum on Friday, August 19th. As cyber attacks are on the rise, improving your cybersecurity posture is a necessity in today’s world. Kerry Vickers has decades of experience in the field and will be sharing important information on how organizations can take proactive steps to remain secure.

Shelby County Chamber Cybersecurity Forum

Lowering Cybersecurity Insurance Premiums

Lowering Cybersecurity Insurance Premiums with Managed Security Services

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Lowering Cybersecurity Insurance Premiums with Managed Security Services

Midmarket organizations face the threat of cyberattacks that put every organization at great risk. As a result, a greater number of IT professionals are turning to managed security services to lower cybersecurity insurance premiums.

Lowering Cybersecurity Insurance Premiums
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Lowering Cybersecurity Insurance Premiums

Lowering Cybersecurity Insurance Premiums with Managed Security Services - PDF

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Lowering Cybersecurity Insurance Premiums with Managed Security Services

Midmarket organizations face the threat of cyberattacks that put every organization at great risk. As a result, a greater number of IT professionals are turning to managed security services to lower cybersecurity insurance premiums.


Managed IT Services Drive Value for Mid-Sized Businesses

Managed IT Services Drive Value for Mid-Sized BusinessesIn today’s world, technology is essential to business. While many organizations simply see IT as a cost center, there are ways to mitigate these costs by utilizing managed IT services to increase reliability, reduce risk, and increase operational efficiency. Organizations must invest in IT to continue to stay relevant and secure in a changing world—employees working from home during and after the pandemic is a prime example. But this kind of flexibility requires continued innovation within the IT space, and mid-sized businesses oftentimes lack the resources to do so on their own. Managed IT solutions are the key to mitigating risk while continually improving business processes—providing real business value to the company.

 

Increased Reliability

Modern businesses run on technology, making the IT department indispensable to daily operations. Unfortunately, outages can and do happen, and when they do, they can be very costly. Gartner estimates that on average, downtime costs companies $5,600 per minute or somewhere between $140K to $540K per hour. Even after an outage is resolved, it requires effort to restore lost data, make required updates, install necessary hardware upgrades, and ultimately get business back on track.

This worst-case scenario can be avoided by working with a managed IT services provider who works around the clock to manage hardware and software and will proactively address issues before they lead to costly outages and downtime.

Aunalytics offers a Secure Managed Services solution that includes 24/7/365 remote monitoring and management to mitigate the risk of your valuable infrastructure going down or becoming unavailable. Our advanced monitoring tool ecosystem allows us to not only respond to equipment that is reporting down in a timely manner, but also to proactively detect system issues and repair them ahead of downtime. Our remote monitoring agent includes client-based interactive support, performance management, alerting, asset management and reporting, while on-site support ensures issues can be resolved quickly at any time of day.

 

Reduced Security Risk

Ensuring that systems are up-to-date and constantly monitored is just one piece of the equation. Cyberattacks are an increasingly ubiquitous threat for businesses both large and small. In 2021, ransomware attacks increased by almost 105% worldwide, Fortune reports. And these increases are even higher in certain industries—in 2021, governments worldwide saw a 1,885% increase in ransomware attacks, while the health care industry faced a 755% increase, according to the 2022 Cyber Threat Report. In addition, attacks are becoming increasingly malicious and complex. Statista reports that the average duration of the downtime after a ransomware attack had increased from 15 to 20 days between Q1 2020 and Q4 2021.

Cloud, Security, Managed IT services

Just as outages and disruptions due to technical issues can be avoided with proactive maintenance measures, there are steps organizations can take to avoid cyberattacks. McKinsey cites several tactics that have proven successful at mitigating cyberattacks which include: securing remote workstations, multifactor authentication, patch management, disabling user-level command-line capabilities and blocking TCP port 445, protecting Active Directory, and organization-wide education and training.

The in-house IT department of a mid-sized business could implement many of these tactics on its own, but generally these individuals are not data security experts. Knowing how to effectively monitor, manage, detect, prevent, and respond to cyberattacks is a very specialized skillset. Big enterprises have the bandwidth to take on these divisions. The mid-market does not.

By partnering with a managed IT services provider who is entrenched in the latest security best practices and strategies, mid-market companies avoid making costly mistakes and omissions. They can stay well-protected at all times. At Aunalytics, our security expertise includes proactive security services that your business needs to thrive. As threats evolve, your security solutions must adapt. We meet you where you are and guide you on a journey to mature your overall security posture and manage risk.

 

Increased Operational Efficiency

One of the biggest benefits to partnering with a managed IT services provider is increased operational efficiency. The IT team of a mid-sized business spends most of its time dealing with day-to-day challenges, and they don’t have time to think too far ahead. It can also be difficult for businesses to hire and retain IT talent. Mid-sized businesses increase operational efficiency when they utilize the talents of a managed IT services partner to advise, build, and maintain solutions on the forefront of technological advances. This partnership gives the organization’s internal team the freedom to focus on what they do best.

At Aunalytics, we strongly believe that innovation through technology makes teams more efficient. We are committed to helping organizations digitally transform by guiding and assisting them along every step of the journey. ultimately, allowing them to thrive by working side-by-side with existing teams to drive positive business outcomes through the use of Aunalytics’ technology and solutions.

 

Aunalytics Managed IT Services

To achieve our mission of helping mid-market businesses thrive, Aunalytics offers a wide range of managed IT and security services. It Aunalytics, we believe security is so vital that our Secure Managed Services solution includes embedded security. We offer everything needed to support the IT needs of mid-sized businesses, including:

  • 24/7/365 Remote Monitoring & Management
  • Synchronized Network Security Platform
  • Internet Protection
  • Workstation & Server Patching
  • Office 365 Management & Security
  • Email Filtering & Security
  • Multi-Factor Authentication
  • Data & Device Encryption Management
  • Security Awareness Training

Managed IT Cycle - Advise > Build > Maintain > Business Outcomes

But at the core of all of our offerings is the team of experts that work side-by-side with clients to meet both their everyday needs and make improvements that will benefit them long-term. For urgent day-to-day issues, the Aunalytics Service Desk is available 24/7/365. Our Service Desk is comprised of knowledgeable technicians and engineers working in tandem to tackle technical issues—both simple and complex—that impact our clients. To keep your business moving forward for the future, we work with your team make improvements to your existing tech stack. With years of experience working with the mid-market, we are confident recommending new technologies and procedures your team may not even realize you need.

The technology and security experts at Aunalytics reduce your risk and increase your efficiency. Gain peace of mind by knowing that our team is there to support your tech initiatives and keep your business up and running and secure.


Proactive Security Measures Prevent Security Attacks

Proactive Security Measures Prevent and Mitigate Cybersecurity Attacks

Does your enterprise’s security stand up to today’s threats? Cyberattacks have increased to higher than ever levels and bad actors are attacking with increasing sophistication. It has been reported that ransomware attacks increased over 90% in 2021, with demands for payment skyrocketing into tens of millions of dollars. In addition, with remote work more prevalent than ever, most businesses now hold some form of sensitive data in the cloud and workers access company data from remote locations. Securing many different locations can be a challenge. Because of these factors, your security infrastructure in place today may still have gaps. Fortunately, proactive security prevents cyberattacks. Therefore, a security operations center (SOC) is the most essential element of modern security. But SOCs are expensive, complicated, and far beyond the reach of most small to midsize enterprises. Plus, security expertise is not easy to recruit and retain internally.

At Aunalytics, we constantly enhance our knowledge to keep up with progressively complex attacks. Aunalytics provides proactive measures for prevention, detection & response by identifying vulnerabilities and threats through a single, unified service. Our data platform examines intel from different sources with the goal of providing insight to your organization needed to best protect your technology environment. Pairing our data platform with the top cybersecurity solutions in the industry gives our clients peace of mind with our complete, holistic approach.

Watch the video below to learn more about Aunalytics Security solutions:

Since proactive security prevents cyberattacks, businesses need access to expert skills in cloud security and data security, which is not standard in mid-market IT departments. That is why our Aunalytics Advanced Security solution includes everything mid-market businesses need to manage risk, including:

  • Comprehensive security operations solutions
  • Customized security alerting and vulnerability prioritization
  • Proprietary, cloud-based security platform
  • Continuous vulnerability scanning
  • Predictable, consistent pricing
  • Threat intelligence and other security data
  • Dedicated security engineers X 24×7 detection and response

When your business requires the highest level of security, Aunalytics has you covered. Our security experts stay up to date, so you can focus on your business.


Ransomware Attacks Now Target Community Businesses

Ransomware Attacks Now Target Community Businesses

If you think that your business will not be a target for ransomware attackers, think again. This is no longer a problem only for large enterprises—now, ransomware attacks target community businesses as well.

The Battle Creek, Michigan community woke up to a May Day attack that forced its Kellogg Community College (KCC) to close all operations. In the middle of preparations for final exams, all five campuses serving approximately 6900 students closed and all operations came to a screaming halt.

The community college posted alerts on its website and social media:

 

UPDATE FOR KCC STUDENTS AND STAFF: As we have previously informed you, we have been victim of a ransomware attack on our systems and services. We are still working to understand the full extent of this incident, but since our last update, we have been working diligently with our IRT team and have made progress into our restoration process. To our students: all campuses will remain closed tomorrow and until further notice to all our students. All classes are also canceled until we are able to reopen safely.

 

Eric Greene, the Vice President for Strategy, Relations, and Communications at KCC said: “We are still working to understand the full extent of this incident, but as soon as we became aware of it, we immediately assembled a multi-disciplinary team and engaged independent legal counsel and external forensic experts.”

Greene continued, “KCC had backups in place, and we are working systematically with our IT experts to restore our operations.” But even though KCC had backups, “As a precautionary measure, all campuses have been disconnected and our systems will remain offline until they are deemed secure by our IT experts. As a result, our students and staff might experience delays accessing our services, including campus emails, online classes, and resources,” Greene said.

Back-ups alone are not sufficient to prevent business disruption when a ransomware attack hits. Preventing the attack, rather than having to respond to it, is key. KCC remained closed for three days while IT scrambled. All computer access to university systems had to be shut down in an attempt to stop further damage. The response and mitigation included a forced password reset for all students, faculty and staff, and adding multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users.

Enable Multi-factor Authentication

MFA is an important security measure when people access systems remotely. It provides an extra level of verification to make sure that the user attempting to access the system is really an authorized user and not a bad actor trying to get in. Modern business regularly includes employees logging in from home, travel and mobile devices to access data and systems from their organization. As such, the old firewall security perimeter around your place of business does not protect you. Modern security requires focus on users and access. MFA is something that is easy to add to your security stack. The protection benefit from MFA far outweighs the resource cost of installing and using the technology. Really, there is no excuse for not having MFA in today’s threat landscape. It is standard.

So if you do nothing else this year to improve your security posture, add MFA. But considering that community businesses are becoming targets for cybercrimes, unless you can afford a complete shut-down of your business, it is becoming a must to have modern security technologies (including robust monitoring so that you are equipped to prevent attacks and are better positioned to respond and mitigate), in addition to back-up and disaster recovery plans.

Shift Applications to the Cloud

Mid-market businesses are shifting security and data center responsibilities from on premise servers and security maintained by their IT department, to partnering with cloud experts who run data centers, keeping client systems stable and secure as their full time business. The trend with line of business applications used by your team for daily operations is cloud. As more and more community businesses use cloud based apps for functions like accounting, customer portals, ERP, CRM and HR, having cloud experts with the tools and the skills to be able to secure your organization’s data (from multiple sources) for safe use by remote users makes more sense than trying to build a security fortress yourself at your place of business.

Partner with Experts

If cybersecurity is not your main line of business, partner with security experts unless you want cybersecurity to become your main line of business. It will consume your resources to stay current with emerging threats, protective means, 24/7/365 monitoring, best practices and constantly evolving security measures. The ever increasing sophistication and volume of attacks has shifted the answer to the “buy it or build it” question for this critical business service from the solution being your in-house IT department to the solution requiring managed security services to supplement your in-house IT team.

Don’t become the next ransomware attack headline. Community businesses can take steps to avoid ransomware attacks. An ounce of prevention, after all, is less costly than the cost of operational shut-down, PR scramble, customer service disruption, brand reputation tarnishment, and emergency security consultant fees paid when you are in the middle of an attack that succeeded.