In common folklore and urban legends, myths can be interesting and fun anecdotes, typically used to spark conversational topics. However, when it comes to business myths, these can be dangerous to businesses and simply spread misinformation. With cyber security myths, it’s important to separate the facts from misinformation in order to protect your business. 

Many people still have inaccurate beliefs about the best ways in which to protect a business from cyber attacks, which then place their businesses at risk. Having a misunderstanding of cyber security myths can contribute to your business falling victim to devastating and expensive breaches and attacks. Let’s take a look at 3 cyber security myths which could be damaging your business. 

 

“My Business Is Too Small To Be Targeted”

One cyber security myth that many businesses believe is that if they are a small business or enterprise, then they will simply not be important or valuable enough for cyber criminals to target them. This then leads them to insufficiently invest in their cyber security protection. This is simply not the case. Cyber attacks can affect businesses of any size and it’s important to recognise this and accept that it is a possibility that your business can fall victim to a cyber attack. 

It is believed that, in the UK, a small business falls victim to a cyber attack every 19 seconds. Cyber criminals aren’t picky when it comes to finding victims to attack, and they are well aware of the fact that smaller businesses don’t have the same level of security as larger businesses, making them a much easier target. 

Larger corporations who fall victim to cyberattacks are often more widely reported than smaller businesses, which only adds to the cyber security myth that small businesses aren’t affected. In actuality, larger corporations are able to recover much more quickly as they have bigger stakeholders and usually a PR team who can help rebuild their image if damaged. When small businesses are targeted, cyber attacks are more likely to have damaging impacts and they are less likely to recover, which is why it’s important to invest in cyber security. 

 

“Our Data Isn’t Important”

Another common cyber security myth that many small businesses believe is that their data isn’t important, therefore is unlikely to be targeted by criminals. As a business owner, you may feel as though your data isn’t worth a cyber criminal’s time, but there are many different ways in which they can use your business’s data for financial gain, contrary to the many cyber security myths that small business owners may hear. 

Following a cyber attack, criminals will sell the data they have stolen on the dark web, which then leaves your business, customers, clients and employees at huge risk. Any data which has been stolen can continually be sold on and often this data is used to impersonate those within your business in an attempt to make your clients or customers conduct fraudulent transfers. 

In some cases, it might not be your business data which criminals are after. Cyber criminals can and often do simply target your business in an attempt to infiltrate and infect your business network in order to damage and disrupt your business, whilst gaining unauthorised access to your business devices. This cyber security myth is perhaps one of the most dangerous to businesses, as it can provide a false sense of security. Remember – all data is valuable to cyber criminals.  

 

“We Have Antivirus Software, So We’re Protected”

Another common cyber security myth that we hear a lot is that businesses believe that they are protected against cyber attacks as they already have antivirus software implemented. Whilst antivirus software is a good place to start when it comes to your cyber security, it’s not the only thing that can keep your business protected. 

As a result of cyber security myths, business owners believe that antivirus software is all that’s needed to protect their business. But, it is only effective when it is regularly updated and is initially set up correctly. There is little to no point in implementing antivirus software if you don’t update it regularly. It’s also important to know that antivirus software is designed to primarily protect against malicious software and unsafe downloads, instead of phishing scams, hackings or other threats. 

Our team can help ensure your business is adequately protected with our managed cyber security services, keeping programmes and software regularly updated. We can also make further recommendations, tailored to your business – don’t let cyber security myths put your business at risk! For more information, or to speak to our team, contact us today.