You cannot open the newspaper or turn on television news without seeing a report of a cyber security breach in the United States. These attacks are costly and they impact everyone from restaurants to medical offices to retailers and government.

Dangerous hackers are everywhere. And some might be targeting your business for network attacks right now.

Most small and medium-sized companies do a poor job keeping their office networks secure, even as experts say cyber attacks are on the rise. It is not just major corporations being victimized by cyber attacks.

The most common types of cyber crime can impact businesses like yours. Whether thieves steal passwords, plant malware or target your company with phishing scams, cyber attacks can wreak havoc on almost every aspect of doing business in the 21st century.

“These criminal hackers get more sophisticated every day,” VLCM Vice President of Marketing Darci Piz said.

Evildoers are always creating new ways to carry out cyber crimes, she added.

“It’s frightening when you realize what’s really at stake,” Piz said.

Prevent Cyber Attacks (Cyber Threat Assessment)

Companies like Utah-based VLCM use the Fortinet Cyber Threat Assessment to determine where companies are at risk for cyber attacks.

According to Fortinet, it’s nearly impossible for a business to prevent all cyber attacks. But most businesses could do much more by way of cyber security to protect their systems from hackers.

Many small and medium-sized companies think they don’t have the budget to make cyber security a high priority, Piz said.

But there is no excuse for not having a company like VLCM conduct a free Fortinet Cyber Threat Assessment to determine the risk, she explained.

“It’s free and it’s one of the most comprehensive assessments you can get,” Piz stressed. “I’m surprised we don’t do 10 cyber threat assessments a day.”

It takes fewer than seven days to conduct the assessment, and the activity won’t disrupt your operations as it highlights application vulnerabilities. In the end, you receive a report that details your level of risk.

Information technology companies like VLCM use the Fortinet Cyber Threat Assessment to determine how vulnerable a company is to cyber crime.

The cyber security assessment actually helps businesses answer three key questions:

• How effective is your current network security solution?
• How are applications and web resources used within your network?
• How should your network security solution be optimized for performance?

There was a time when preventing cyber crime was a small part of what companies like VLCM did. But according to Penguin Strategies, a 2015 study from the Ponemon Institute found the costs of cyber crime increased 19 percent in one year.

The key to staying safe is staying ahead of cyber criminals.

Fortinet collected data from several live corporate networks between October 2015 and February 2016. And even an industry insider like Piz said she was surprised by the findings. There were 81,000 attempted cyber attacks during that five-month period, according to Fortinet officials.

The study found that more than 44 percent of the attacks targeted financial institutions and about 27 percent went after educational organizations.

If you are worried about the IT security at your company, you are not alone. Cyber threats are the top concern of many business owners in 2016, and a Cyber Threat Assessment from Fortinet will help determine your level of risk.

Piz explained that you will finally know where your firewall is vulnerable and how your security measures compare to other organizations.

Boost Productivity

A Fortinet Cyber Threat Assessment also helps businesses determine how applications and web resources are used within the network so you can increase productivity and keep your data safe.

Here are some key findings related to the use of social media from when Fortinet examined several workplaces in early 2016:

• Facebook generated more than 47 percent of social media activity
• YouTube generated more than 42 percent of streamed video and audio
• More than 19 percent of web activity related to advertising
• Social media, video and audio comprised more than 25 percent of network traffic
• YouTube and other web sources comprised 75 percent of media traffic on networks

What You Can Do

There are some basic measures business can take to lessen the threat of cyber attacks.

“Regularly changing your passwords helps a lot,” Piz said.

Department heads should also keep their employees informed about the latest cyber-crime tactics. And establish a company policy so employees do not inadvertently let criminals access the network via a spammy link or weak password.

Conclusion

There are two main ways to determine how vulnerable your network is to a cyber attack:

• Wait for an attack to occur
• Run validation tests to monitor your system

“VLCM and Fortinet work together to test your entire network for free, without any interruption to your business,” VLCM Vice President of Sales Mike Linton said.

The Fortinet Cyber Threat Assessment will also detect advanced attacks from criminal hackers. To schedule your free cyber threat assessment, visit https://go.vlcmtech.com/cyber-threat-assessment-program or call VLCM at 800-817-1504.