Hackers Focus on Hitting Small Businesses

Cyber attacks on small businesses continue to rise. Internet security provider Symantec reports that small companies were the focus of 31% of all cyber attacks in 2012, up from only 18% in 2011.

Small businesses are the new target because they're easy to breach and have a false sense of security. Many believe that no one would gain anything by attacking them, but that's often not true. Hackers attack hoping to find customer data, intellectual property and small business bank account information. For example, hackers can plant malware on websites to grab data from online transactions. Knowledge workers and sales employees are also regular targets.

Protecting your computers may not be enough, either. Attacks on mobile devices continue to increase as the devices become more popular.

Source: Smallbiztrends.com, April 20, 2013