The cyber attacks on business enterprises and their data has been increased in recent times as the internet is used as a medium by hackers to carry out illegal activities. Some of the causes are because of security breaches, lack of information security measures etc. While some of the causes are due to unethical activities of some employees. Hacking attacks occur due to various reasons and it varies from person to person. It depends upon the confidentiality of data and security of business enterprises that determine the level of attacks on business businesses and the effect on business productivity.
Some of the causes of cyber attacks on business enterprises are data leakage, data capturing, fraud, hacking, virus attacks and even denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Hacking occurs due to data entry, data capturing, data extraction and data modification, monitoring of Internet data and other activities related with Internet. Every hour thousands of new viruses are being created and are being spread through various networks by viruses. Most of the viruses are created for the attack on network software such as: email, IM, chat, instant messaging, FTP, webmail.
One of the common causes of cyber attacks on business enterprises is the misuse of the Internet by employees and executives for unethical or personal motives. Employees may want to use the Internet to search for a job, to shop, for personal reasons, for gaming, e-mailing, online gaming, social networking and to find dates. All these actions compromise the security of your network and data. Most of the employees feel it is not worth investing in securing their network and data as they earn handsome salary from any of the business enterprises.
Apart from personal motive of employees, businessmen also use the Internet for unethical and improper purposes, such as for shopping, phishing, spamming, computer attacks and data loss. Cyber criminals use different techniques for data theft including key loggers, spyware, viruses and malware. These malicious programs, when installed on a computer system, can steal important data such as: credit card, password, user names and passwords. In some cases, business enterprises lose data due to virus attack that spreads to other computers on the same server.
Business enterprises that do not take preventive measures and those that neglect their network security will definitely suffer from these attacks. Businesses that have implemented antivirus programs are more secure as these prevent the attacks on their systems. Businesses that have installed firewalls are safe as they cannot be attacked by attackers who have remote access to the network. If your business organization has not installed any antivirus program on its systems, you must install one. An antivirus program that scans your system for virus and spyware will protect your PC from the attacks of these malicious programs.
To stop cyber attacks on business enterprises, network security must be tightened. This can be done with the help of firewall applications which are easy to install and configure. Businesses that fail to tighten their firewall are at risk of the attack of hackers. Business enterprises should upgrade their security software at regular intervals. This will ensure smooth operations.
