Every single day a business in Toronto will be the victim of a cyber attack which:
- Stops the business operating for days or even weeks
- Steals confidential information
- Deletes valuable business data
- Has a high cost of recovery
- Can put them out of business
Cybercrime is now the greatest threat to the future of every business. A network security assessment can find the vulnerabilities in your IT systems before the hackers do and help to keep your business cyber secure.
How Great is the Risk to Businesses Like Mine?
Every business is at risk from a cyber attack. The rate of cybercrime increases every year:
- Over 65% of organizations worldwide have had at least one successful attack against them
- A new attack is launched every 40 seconds
- Nearly 50% of all cyber-attacks are focused on small to medium businesses
- Every day 30,000+ websites are attacked
- In 2020, 1 in 5 SMBs experienced a ransomware attack
- The average ransom was $300,000, the largest $30 million
Hackers rely on the fact that many businesses don’t have the awareness or the skills to prevent cyber attacks. Commissioning a network security assessment from a trusted and experienced IT services provider is the first step to building a defense against attack.
How do Hackers Gain Access to IT Systems?
Every part of your IT systems and website can provide entry points for hackers to carry out a cyber-attack and do damage to your business.
Hackers use many ways to gain illegal access to systems. The most common methods rely on:
- Common and widely known network vulnerabilities
- Default network equipment passwords
- Insecure websites
- Unpatched IT systems
- Harmful attachments or links in apparently innocent emails
- Phishing and social engineering attacks on staff
- Infected websites
- Downloads of free software, music, videos, and games
Hacking tools are easy to obtain. Scanning tools provide a cybercriminal with an automatic way to probe the security of 1000’s of networks every second. Once the scan finds a vulnerability, the hacker can use other sophisticated tools to get inside the network, find more vulnerabilities, and cause damage. A network security assessment will find these vulnerabilities before the hackers do so that they can be fixed.
What Does a Network Security Assessment Do?
A network security assessment can be used to answer questions including:
- What are the potential entry points for hackers?
- Which systems are at risk from a cyber attack?
- What would be the impact of a cyber attack on specific assets?
- What sensitive data is at risk from a cyber attack?
- What can be done to protect against an attack?
All of this depends on who carries out the assessment.
Who Should I Use to Perform a Network Security Assessment?
Assessing the security of a network requires specialist skills that are unlikely to be possessed by everyone working in IT. While tools can help with the mechanics of a network security assessment, analysis of the data requires experience and knowledge of the current cyber threats.
Hence most businesses employ specialist IT service providers who have IT security experts and specialist security assessment tools that can:
- Identify all potential weak points in computer networks and systems
- Scan all devices attached to the networks to identify any issues
- Assess the security of websites
- Review antivirus standards and patching processes
- Check the configuration of firewalls against industry-standard benchmarks
- Probe for any weaknesses using safe penetration testing techniques
An experienced provider of network security services will ensure that the network security assessment is conducted without any disruption to your operations.
Once the assessments are complete, you should be provided with a comprehensive report that:
- Highlights all vulnerabilities
- Prioritizes the risks to your business
- Makes recommendations on how to address each risk
Some providers only do security assessments. While they are undoubtedly specialists in this field, most businesses don’t have the time or the skills to follow up on the recommendations. Hence it’s a good idea to find a local, trusted IT service provider like CG Technologies that offers a wide range of services, including:
- Cyber security consulting
- Ransomware protection
- Anti-malware
- Secure backup
- Hardware and software support
- Managed firewall
Who Are CG Technologies?
CG Technologies have been in business since 1996, servicing clients with big and small IT support needs primarily in Toronto and across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Their support team is 100% Canada-based and has a track record of excellence for their clients in Toronto and the GTA, who rely on them for all their IT and security needs as their business grows. With 100s of satisfied customers, CG Technologies will partner with you from the initial design phase to launch and rollout and long afterwards as your business grows. Contact us to discuss your IT needs.
