Malware Problems Impacting Small Business Owners

Hackers are going after small businesses

 
In this world where small business owners are trying to build up their business, there are growing concerns about the web and how hackers are going after businesses. There are a variety of ways this is happening and it is all related to connectivity to web and all that lurks out there. There is more information about the problems which it presents and just how easy it is to get infected with some malware or trojan which can expose the finances for your business. This is something which you as a small business owner need to be aware of. Being aware is the first step towards taking action to protect yourself.

As a small business owner, connection to the web exposes you to potential harm. If you are not connected to the web, then you are not reading this and therefore have nothing to worry about. But for everyone else, you need to review what you are doing on the web and with web connected devices. Some of the great new technologies for small business are fantastic, such as Square which lets you accept payments on your smart phone. That let's businesses be mobile and not tied to the old technologies. Having to have a land line to dial up and process credit card payments is becoming a thing of the past. But, it is that new technology which has the potential to cause big problems.

For the past few years, the idea of malware on smart phones has been lurking out there as a growing problem. This year, it has moved from lurking on the fringes to roar into visibility as a huge problem for mobile devices. Reports are beginning to emerge showing that this problem has become much worse than anyone has expected. In a report from McAfee, they are showing a 1200% increase in malware in the first quarter this year as compared to the 4th quarter of 2011. This should cause a small business owner to take a much harder look at how to protect yourself against malware.

We know that there is an increase in targeted malware against mobile devices. There is also the Android apps which have been reported which already contain malware before you download them. The move to Google Play is expected to reduce that problem and you should only download apps from trusted sources. It makes it tough to know what to do. If you have employees who click on attachments in any email you receive, you have probably been hit a few times. Keeping AntiVirus software up to date is critical for computers. But mobile devices are something which has not received the desired attention from providers. That is stating to change and you will hear a lot more about AntiVirus software for smart phones. You must take a serious look at this area.

Part of the reason for that is because there are many out there who are now starting to target small business specifically. And this applies even if you are exclusively using Apple products. It seems that there are specific groups targeting Macs, iPads and iPHones. We know that groups are already specifically targeting Android devices, so this should not come as any surprise to anyone. At a speech at the San Francisco Small Business Week, one speaker was warning about attacks on Small Businesses and you need to be very careful with mobile devices.

“Eight out of ten mobile banking apps have security flaws, but Apple and the banks don’t want you to know that. I’ll wait another 20 years to stick my toe in that pond.”

One recommendation is to not use mobile banking apps because that is something hackers are targeting right now. Once they have your bank information, along with the access to your bank, they can begin to pull money out of your accounts. And for a small business, that can create some big problems. It appears that once the crimes are committed against a small business, most law enforcement agencies are unlikely to do a lot of investigation for electronic crimes like this. This can be a real problem when it cross jurisdictions, such as cities, counties or states. An even bigger problem is trying to figure out where the crime actually was committed. Most law enforcement agencies do not have the tools or the manpower to investigate these kinds of crimes.

There are things which you can do, but they require you to alter your current way of doing things. As an example, do your online banking on a different computer than your work computer. Do not do it on your smart phone. Or get some encryption software for your mobile device and computers. All of this should raise your awareness that things are quickly changing in our mobile world and you must adjust to it in order to protect yourself.