Is cyber security too remote for small businesses? Let’s hear what an IT expert says.

As more and more transactions are gone through the Internet via tools and applications, the approach that the businesses take to protect the important assets including customer data as well as internal data becomes critical. Recently, I have interviewed a cyber security expert in Toronto about this interesting topic.

Darnley Greson Jr is the lead technical consultant at darnIT.ca. DarnIT was founded in 2012 in meeting a growing demand in IT technical advice for small and medium businesses. It specializes in cyber security, data security, and business technical solutions. Here is the link for his website.https://darnit.ca/

Alex: Darnley, thanks for taking the time for the interview. For a lot of small and medium sized companies, cyber security seems too remote for business owners to consider. But I heard many IT consultants quite often stressed the importance about cybersecurity. Do you think there is a gap in understanding the cyber/data security issue?
Darnley: The main issue here when it comes to cybersecurity for businesses is the simple fact that it’s not top of mind. Most owners do not come from a technical background therefore they don’t either think about it or are in the “won’t happen to me” mindset. Secondly, they don’t add value to the data seeing on their computers, servers, and cloud applications.

Alex: We all understand that small and mid-sized companies don’t have a big budget for cyber security/data protection program. What’s the strategy that business owners should play in this area? I saw some clients using dropbox as internal data backup. Is it O.K.?
Darnley: Having “big budgets” is the thing of the past when it comes to cybersecurity and data security. SMB’s quite often fail to have a strategy to protect themselves before and after an event of loss. There are many different types of solutions out there which looks after a specific component to a businesses needs – however, there is no cookie cutter security solution which is best suited for everyone. A two employee business will have different protection needs compared to a two hundred employee office; Different levels of risk. Regardless of your size, business owners should speak to a security specialist to best equip them with the right tools and also to design an appropriate plan. Investment your business cyber security is key to a healthy strategy.

Alex: I spoke to business owners about the incidents of data breach before. What I learned from them was hackers are more interested in big guys’ data instead of data in small businesses. What’s your observation from your experience?
Darnley: This is where the confusion starts for business owners – the bigger the business, the bigger the cyber target. This is a huge misconception which is the reason why small business have become the primary target for cyber attacks – lack of protection. In the years of doing this, I’ve seen small business either suffer greatly, or end up closing operations due to the lack of funds or the massive loss of data that came from a cyber breach. 70% of small business that had a major security breach go out of business within a year. On the flip side, business owners do not think about what their customers would think about them after a disaster. It’s a really unfortunate event, however, other businesses may need goods to run their business, and if your store doors are closed or you cannot process an order due to the damage, they would simply go on to one of your competitors.

Alex: As we see a lot of applications moving to cloud based, what’s your comment about cybersecurity? How about those bookkeeping software?
Darnley: Cloud based applications are the way of the future, no doubt about that. With the growing workforce are no longer confined to the office, a bigger demand for cloud-based applications are in full force. Some cloud companies are realizing that their customers want an application to be secured, yet accessible – that delicate balance is hard to achieve by today’s standards. I always say that businesses who host applications need to have a really rock solid security infrastructure to give them the advantage over their competitors. Application companies need to continue to harden their infrastructure and relay that information to their end-users to keep them confident on their solution. Quickbooks Online for example, is an excellent way for business of all sizes to employ the cloud without having to keep a server running at the office.

Alex: I have a question from my client. This is not cyber security question. He knows VOIP phone for business is a lot cheaper than what big telcos offer. What’s your advice?
Darnley: I love VoIP, it has its fair share of headaches if deployed incorrectly, however has a great advantage over operating costs, maintenance costs, and upgradeability. I’m able to make calls across the globe without long distance charges and have call quality similar to an old fashioned land line. There are various types of flavours of VoIP a business can have, which makes shopping for your needs really key. Relating to cyber security, the provider of VoIP is fundamental. IBM Security Intelligence group has also written a report about an increase in VoIP cyber attacks – which does happen today. In the end, it’s better to get advice from a security professional rather than a company’s biased salesperson. Their job is to find the right solutions for your business over finding cheap service which compromises on security.

Alex: You built a beautiful real map of current cyberthreat. Can you explain to me what it can tell me? Are those real?
Darnley: Absolutely. I put this map on our website to give perspective of the actual, real live threats that go on every second that passes throughout the globe. Just seeing the real-time data of the attack types, targets, and origins will open your eyes of the raw truth of the cyber war that happens over the digital frontier.

Alex: I think I become an expert on cyber security now. Really appreciated your time and enjoyed talking to you.Thanks.
Darnley: My advice for business owners is to never aspire to be a cyber security master, this will take your attention away from running your own business as effectively as you can. That’s one of the problems I face when cleaning up cyber disasters – I see that the advice was given ended up becoming a determinant to their business. Cyber security does not have to be painful or expensive, get someone who is trained to deal with your type of business and they will deploy solutions which will help your business and your operating costs. Thank you for having me Alex.