Sometimes an entire economy grows up around fear, and small business cybersecurity measures are one such economy. Vendors pitch the threat of sophisticated, relentless attacks that need elaborate defenses. They pitch a platform, a consultant, or an entire operations center to defend against these attacks.
Ooma’s recent guide from tech journalist Husain Sumra puts some holes in these pitches. The most interesting part of the accompanying graphic isn’t the list of recommended protections, which are useful but unsurprising, but the protections small businesses can skip over.
A full in-house Security Operations Center, a custom SIEM platform, biometric logins, enterprise-grade solutions, and multiple tools that overlap each other. Each of these is deemed an unnecessary expense by the team. According to the team’s research, many of these tools are not really protection but the appearance of protection. They’re an elaborate and expensive costume.
Many security vulnerabilities are mundane occurrences. Someone reused a password. Someone clicked a phishing link. Nobody turned on multifactor authentication, the single most effective measure a small business can take. The great news is that these vulnerabilities are inexpensive to prevent. Phishing training for the team, multifactor authentication, and a password management system are simple, cost-effective, and essential solutions for small businesses’ cybersecurity.
Most security failures are not rectified with sophisticated protections because they occur when people neglect obvious vulnerabilities. The guide’s blunt verdict on cyberattack insurance makes a sharp point: it may help cover some costs after a cyber incident, but it can’t prevent attacks. Only small businesses and their teams have the power to prevent these attacks.
The team names some higher-risk businesses and sectors, such as medical data protected by HIPAA laws, legal and financial information, and anyone running a customer portal is bound by compliance laws. For everyone else, the message on cybersecurity is much simpler and maybe even boring. But if you take these “boring” measures, you’ll save money and enjoy better protection.
